To Speak for The Dead
by I Will Make You Rebel
Summary: (Jori style, Tori centric) Tori Vega received a special gift that she doesn't really want. She just doesn't know that this 'special gift' will help her change history and maybe find her true love. Cheesy summary, I know. Nope, not really horror.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I decided to make a Jori version of my favorite fanfiction story ever! It is also entitled as _To Speak for The Dead._ So if you have time and you want to be spoiled, search it up, I hope you'll like it! And so now, I'm making a version of mine (in VicTORIous fandom) since it's a great story to share to you guys! I added a few twist of mine in the story but the essence is still the same, somehow. We'll see.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing except for some characters and the obvious. :)

**Warning: **Some characters are OC. Plus, sorry for my grammar and spelling errors. I did not proof read this, because I'm a lazy ass person. But if you see some, please indicate it in you review or something. Thank you! (I'm learning, and correcting me when I'm wrong is how I learn.)

* * *

**To Speak for The Dead (Jori Style)**

**Chapter 1:**

She can't describe the feeling, you know. Hm, let us describe it with surreal. Yes, surreal. She's not actually feeling _anything_, but the whole situation is just so surreal. She's just floating. It was kind a nice and… relaxing. Yeah, we shall put it that way.

"Tori! Oh my god, Tori! Someone, please help her! Save her! Oh god!"

Okay, that was not relaxing at all! She was having some time for herself and just floating when Trina just goes and blows the peaceful warmth around her.

She looks down – down? Yeah, that's right. Down. How'd she managed to get _up _to be looking down in the first place is something she was trying to think. And floating, _what the chiz. _She's up, floating and looking down at – Is that two girls making out on a beach!? She can recognize that this is in fact is a beach with white sand. Wait it is night time. Looking around, she came to a realization that she is up, floating, looking down, in a beach at night.

Anyway, she's looking down at the two girls making out. _It is actually kind a hot… _She notices that the one at the bottom has long tan legs, _much like hers, _and the one on top has black locks and pale skin. Scrunching her nose at the scene below her, she then realizes Beck runs up with a medium sized white briefcase. Ohhh – she's floating up higher now. Then the pale girl starts to move from the girl with tan legs – wait a minute! _That's me! _That is Tori Vega, indeed it is. How can she not recognize herself?

How the heck is that even possible? How can she be in two places at once? _I'm also floating here! This is strange! This doesn't make any sense at all! _Then, she sees the pale girl, which she recognizes as Jade West, open the white briefcase. _Fudge it, Jade west was making out with me?! Now that's more surreal than me floating! _

Then – _whoa baby! – _Beck is touching her (the other her!) chest! _Damn it, why can't I feel that? Oh, what? Wait, Tori! He has a girlfriend! A girlfriend who was just making out with you! _Jade then slaps his hand away from her chest and hands him a piece of paper. 'Read it,' she said to him. _It can be 'read it' or 'hold it'. I am not very accurate with lip-reading. _Oh, now Jade is touching her chest. Beck is instructing her on where to place these little round disks on various locations on her chest. First, Jade was kissing her and now she's touching her chest! What the hell is going on here!? This is just so strange, especially with the floating higher thing. Man, she wants to see what's going on! How can she do that if she keeps on floating away!

Now she can barely see what's happening with her, but she can tell that Jade and Beck stepped away from her and there were blue and red lights flashing around them.

_Pain! Okay, aww! _Suddenly, she's not floating anymore. Instead, she's been ripped out of the sky and shoved back in her body like a flash of lightning.

… … … …

Beep… Beep… Beep…

Tori Vega opens her eyes and cautiously looks around the room, quickly realizing that she's in a white room, _a hospital room. _Everything is very blurry in her memory. Night, beach, swimming, Cat wrapping her arms around her neck, falling in to the darkness, her lungs filling with water, pain in her chest, but relieved pressure around her neck, then there were screaming, people yelling, siren, and – waking up here. Something is tickling her nose and she reaches up and feels the rubberized prongs of the oxygen tube inserted into her nostrils.

"What happened?" she asks aloud to the empty room.

"I think I've lost my ring. Can you help me find it?" replies a female voice.

Eyes widening, she sits up on her bed to see an old, wrinkly woman standing at the foot of her hospital bed. She's wearing a blue dress with floral designs and she looks like she just got out of the retirement home.

"Uhm – Not trying to be mean or anything, but who are you?" Tori ask as she tries to sit comfortably with the _thing_ on her nose.

"I did not mean to scare you, dear. I was in this room before you, you see. Let me introduce myself: I'm Johanna Johnson. And I've been asking around all day, but you're the only one who's taken notice of me."

Scrunching her eyebrows in confusion, she lets out an, "Oh."

"So you see, dear. I've been looking around for my wedding ring. It's really important to me and I need your help to find it," Mrs. Johnson said. "I'm sure I just left it here in somewhere."

Tori smiles brightly at the old woman and nods her head happily. She looks around the small room without moving from her bed. She doesn't see any ring, but she does see some balloons with 'Get Well Soon' and some purple and white roses on her bed side table. _Aww, that's so sweet. _On the other side of the room, on the table at the end of the small brown sofa that was leaning against a wall was a big balloon with a pouty picture of Cat with an 'I'm really sorry Tori' message below the picture. _Oh Cat…_

"Miss? Can you look a little harder? I don't think I have much time to…" Mrs. Johnson trails of looking at her with expectant eyes. Tori smiles shyly at the woman and apologizes for not being much help. She then removes her oxygen tube from her nose so she could reach up to the dresser beside her. She rummages around and she sees that under the Bible, is a small gold band.

"Hey, look," she exclaims, "I found it!"

Looking back to the woman, she realizes that she is not in front of her anymore. That's weird. Pocketing the ring, she walks toward the door and flings it open with the intention of searching for the mysterious lady to give her ring back. But as she was walking down the hallway, she is stopped by Andre, Beck and Jade.

Andre worriedly held her arm, "What are you doing out of your room?"

"Yeah, you shouldn't leave it yet, Tori. You're not well," Beck adds. Tori notice that two of her friends support really worried looks. Yes, Jade of course just stands there beside Beck, arms crossed, supporting a bored look on her face.

"I – I'm sorry… It's just, there is this old lady and I really have to give this back!" Tori say showing the gold band to her friends. "You must have seen her! She just left a few seconds ago."

"Tori, we didn't see anyone," Jade pointedly says.

"But – but that's impossible. I say her –"

Just then, a small, weasel-looking man wearing green hospital scrubs walks up.

"Excuse me. I work in the ... basement and I'm looking for something ... a piece of jewelry. It might have been left here by the previous ... resident. Do you mind if I take a look?"

"You mean Mrs. Johnson's wedding ring?" Tori ask while she holds up the ring for him to see.

"How – how did you know about that?" Weasel man asks, surprise.

"Well, Mrs. Johnson came to my room today and made me look for it."

Weasel suddenly goes pale. "But… that's impossible!"

Clearly annoyed, Jade then steps forward and grabs the ring Tori's holding. "Do you want the ring or not?" She asks, holding it up to the man's face.

"Of course", he says nervously as she drops the ring into his now sweaty palm. "I'll make sure he gets this back."

"Whatever," Jade says with a huff. She glances at Beck, who is giving her a disapproving look. Jade then mouthed, 'What?'

Weasel just looks at her strangely and then, scurries away.

"Oh wait! Sir!" Tori cries out but the man already turns right to the hallway, in a hurry to get away from them. She then looks around at her friends and her surroundings. She instantly feels a chill down her spine. "Creepy," she mutters.

"Yeah, he was," Andre whispers beside her.

Tori looks up at him by surprise, forgetting that he was there in the first place.

"What? No, not the weasel!" Jade snickers in agreement and Beck takes on a disapproving look. "All these other people," Tori indicates up and down the hallway. "They are weird."

"What people, Tori?" Beck asks, concern written across his face. "There is no one here except the nurse down at the other end… and us, of course."

Tori looks up at him with a weird look. "What are you talking about? There might be, at least, 30 people milling around here." She glances at Jade who was giving her a curious look her way. Andre then pats her head and starts to guide her to her room, "You need rest, Tor."

"Sure," Tori agrees vaguely. She doesn't understand what's wrong with them, but this hallway is creeping her out, so she's all for going back inside. Then, maybe she can figure out what's going on.

… … … …

Four hours later and we wish she had never figured what was going on. Her friends stayed for about half an hour and though she was oddly comforted by _Jade's_ presence, yes Jade, she still found that her situation is creepy. Andre and Beck told her the whole story, of how she drowned and how Cat is really sorry about it. Jade… well, she just seated on the sofa giving her snarky remarks. _And yes, that was actually kind a comforting for me. Since you know, Jade distracts me from seeing the weird kid playing solitaire at the end of my bed, or that scary man looking out the window. _

She really appreciates that they visited her during their free period since visiting a friend in a hospital, who nearly died, is not a free period worthy activity. Unfortunately, Cat and Robbie doesn't have the same free period as them, but Andre said that they'll visit again, after classes.

Now, she's reading her black-painted history book so that she won't miss out the lesson while she's absent. She's right in the middle of the description of Merchants and Mercantilism when cold hands grips her arms.

She screams, drops the book, flings the PearPod away (she listens to music while reading. It helps her concentrate, try it), fully expecting to see Mrs. Masters from her third grade History class to be standing in front of her with a thumbs-up and a 'good-you-are-studying-while-you-are-in-the-hospit al-and-absent' smile.

Instead, she sees a tall, elegantly dressed man in front of her with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Ms. Vega, but I've been calling you for several minutes. I guessed you couldn't hear because of the music," he chuckles as he bend down to pick up her purple PearPod from the floor and hands it to her. The music can be heard coming from the earbuds.

Tori takes it with a smile, sighing in relief that he's not one of _them_ when their hands brush. Turning the PearPod off, she looks at the man and asks him to sit down but he refuses.

"Oh, I should introduce myself. I'm Montague Forester", he announces with a flourish as he produces a small white business card which he presents to her.

She looks at it skeptically. "PSY Investigations?" she mumbles.

"Yes, you might have seen our infomercials on cable access."

"No."

"Be that as it may, I think we may be of some help to you. Oh, I should explain... we received a call on our toll free tip line from a Mr. Malcolm Reynolds. He reported a Class 3 interaction involving you which happened this morning."

"Malcolm Reynolds? I don't know any Malcolm Reynolds. Wait... does he look like a weasel?" Tori asks as she guesses who this Malcolm guy is.

"I don't know; we communicated telephonically. He works in the morgue, here at the hospital and he reported the Class 3 interaction between you and a recently deceased lady by the name of...", he pauses to check his small notebook.

"Mrs. Johnson?"Tori provides cautiously.

"Yes! That's it! So you did attempt contact with Johanna Johnson of the Eastview Retirement Village."

"I don't know where she lived. She just wanted me to help her find her wedding ring. She seemed like a nice enough old woman, so I helped her. And now this..." she dramatically indicates out to the empty room.

"What?" asks a puzzled Mr. Reynolds.

"You can't see them either? I thought since you're from this PSY place that you'd be able..."

"No. Unfortunately, I don't have the gift" he says with a sigh.

"Gift? You call this a gift? They won't leave me alone and it's creeping me out!"

"How ... how many are here?" Mr. Reynolds asks cautiously.

"Hmmm, four, no three. The fat guy left. There's a little kid playing solitaire at the end of my bed; an old lady primping in the bathroom mirror; and a sad man looking out the window, like he's waiting for someone to pick him up," Tori explains as calmly as she can.

"This is incredible! Have they tried to contact you?"

"The little kid asked me if I wanted to play Crazy-8's, but I ignored him."

"Oh, outstanding! You simply must come with me, Miss Vega. Your gift is truly remarkable. We need to study you more carefully, teach you how to control it better..."

"Whoa, whoa, and whoa! I don't want to be studied and I don't want to learn anything about this gift, unless it's how to return it."

"Return it? You don't understand how rare this is. It's remarkable. Well, I haven't found a Level Six Medium in over 25 years."

"I'm sorry I really can't and I really don't want to. My family's going to be taking me home soon and I'm going to forget all about this gift. And I'd like to start by forgetting about you. I'm sorry, sir. But I want to live a normal life. I'll just… ignore it or something."

The older man sighs deeply with resignation. "Okay, Ms. Vega but at least keep my card ... in case you need me."

"Uh – thank you I guess," Tori takes the card and used it as a book mark for her history book. _But I will really try not to need you._

"Good bye, then," The man awkwardly wave and left the room. Tori turned her PearPod on and placed the earbuds in her ear, sighing and closing her eyes.

_They'll go away. They'll go away soon._

_I hope._

_... ... ... ..._

**A/N: **So what do you think? Is it awful? Is it good? Is it bad? Is it okay? Well, tell me of what you think! Oh, and I know you have some opinions in the pretty head of yours, so please, do write it in a review! :) Just right it down there, love! Do it! :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

"Somebody please tell me why we are here again," says Rex from Robbie's lap as his owner looks around the Black Box Theatre where people filling the room.

Tori rolls her eyes as she too looks around the theatre without a clue of why she is there in the first place. She just thanked god for not seeing creepy, scary, weird-looking ghost.

It's her first week back to school from the hospital. Everyone is having a buzz about a certain field trip chosen people are going to take. She doesn't know if she's actually part of it so she doesn't bother asking her friends about it.

Sinjin, creepily seating at the back row near Robbie tried to answer Rex, "We're waiting for Lane. We're going to talk about Violence Prevention and School Shooting…"

"Oh! Like a bullying campaign?" Robbie asks, clearly listening to whatever Sinjin is telling him… or Rex.

"Oh," Sinjin exclaims, "Not just bullying, brotha! It's more like the Virginia Tech."

There's silence in the room after Sinjin reminds them about the attack on Virginia Polytechnic Institute on April 1, 2007. A student killed 32 people and wounded many more before committing suicide, making it the deadliest school shooting in U.S. History.

"Man, can you imagine going back in the building after something like that happened? I mean just going back into class in a room where someone died..." Andre shivers dramatically, reminiscing the time he was watching the news for that incident.

"Yeah man," Beck chimes in, "You never know… maybe someone dies here in Hollywood Arts and we just don't know it. Maybe someone died here in this very theatre."

"Ooooooo," Rex tried to sound spooky but it didn't work, at least it didn't work for them. Cat, on the other hand, clings to Tori's arms like a scared kitty cat. _He he._

"Shut up, Rex," Robbie scolds.

"Hey, you never know…"

"You don't need to worry," Tori says flatly. "No one died in this building."

Oh, how she wish she never said that.

"Oh yeah," Jade started, raising her pierced eye brow at the half-Latina. "How'd you know that, Vega?" she asks challenging.

"I just do. No one ever died _inside _Hollywood Arts."

Before Jade can retort, Lane enters and starts the talk with them about remaining vigilant and _breaking the code of silence _that exits in their school.

Tori is not even listening; she's looking intently outside the small part of the window which is left uncovered by the curtain. _I wished I didn't sit next to the window. Now I can't stop looking outside. _She can clearly see the outside track field and the guy warming up. At first he looks just like any other high school boy until you look at him more closely. He's wearing a stretchy red sweatband on his forehead which is holding his five inch afro up and away from his face. Plus he's wearing white knee socks (a definite fashion no-no, even with the jocks) on top of his vintage bright blue Nike trainers. But what made her hunch cleared up is the date at the back of his old-styled shirt. **_Hollywood Arts, 1975. _**She never said no one had died _outside_ the building.

"... and so in the words of MadEye Moody, Constant Vigilance!" Lane concludes with a wide smile.

A few students chuckle at his humor. Tori chuckles with them. She has never understood why teachers constantly find it necessary to try to sound current.

… … … …

"I am sooo excited for the field trip," Cat chirps (or meows, whatever) as they, Tori, Beck, Jade, Robbie and Andre stares at her as she sits down with them at their usual lunch table.

"Everyone with a little flicker of sunshine in them is, Cat. Stop your bubbling," Jade replies bitterly having an already sour mood because Tori is sitting rather _closely _next to her. It seems that only Jade and Tori are concerned by this. _I can't blame myself for that! Jade have this sort of protective feeling when I'm close to her. It makes the _baddies _go away. _Really, Tori? You call ghosts baddies now? _Yeah, whatever. I call them whatever I want to call them. _Jade glares at Tori from her right and Tori just shyly smile at her. Jade rolls her eyes giving her unwanted seatmate the 'you-are-lucky-you-just-got-out-of-the-hospital-Ve ga' smile.

Shrugging her shoulders, Tori tries to focus her gaze anywhere but Jade. Surely, having the girl near her makes her feel more than protective warmth from all the baddies. _Psh, not. _Hey! I'm the one narrating the story here. Shut up and eat you lunch!

"Well, aren't you excited for the trip, Jade?" Beck nicely asks his girlfriend as he can feel the radiating evil mood from her.

"No, Beck."

"Wait – what trip are we talking about?" Tori asks softly as she eyes Andre, not wanting to bother Jade.

"Well," Andre starts to explain, "The Media Arts and History class are going to have a field trip to San Antonio, Texas in two weeks to see the Alamo."

Cat happily nods her head. "And we're going to make a film about it! Isn't it exciting!?"

"We're going to make a short film about our insights and learning," Robbie adds when he sees the confuse look Tori is giving Cat. "Since you know, it's MAH (Media Arts and History is what you call your regular History in Hollywood Arts. Since HA is not a normal school, they made History more exciting by having it twisted up with Media Arts) we are required to make film about whatever we learned in history."

"But we're visiting the Alamo. Many people _di-died_ there, right?" Tori stutters.

"Is Ms. Perfect scared of little dead people?" Jade asks with her 'Tori' voice, intently annoying Tori.

"I don't talk like that!" Tori exclaims almost automatically. "But seriously, am I required to go? 'Cause, I just died! I can't – I don't want to go to a place with where many people died!" Oh, Tori, if only they know the real reason why you don't want to go.

"Well, maybe you could go talk to Sikowitz since he is one of the teachers in-charge," Robbie advises.

"I already tried that, it won't work." Jade says, surprising everyone. Then, she looks around her friends with an Uh-oh expression.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Beck asks, "What do you mean, babe?"

Now, Tori chooses to smirk and say with a cute baby voice, "Oh, is Jade West scared of little dead people?"

Scowling at Tori, Jade snaps. "I'm not scared of anything, Vega! It's just that… I don't feel like going! Especially with you!" With that, she grabs her bag from the ground and left, glaring at everyone who even dared to look her way.

"But I don't want to go either!"

"Oh no, Tori. You got Jade mad," Cat says. "One time my brother got mad –"

Cat's voice got tuned out, when Tori felt practically familiar chills run down her spine just as Jade stood up from her sit. _That's weird. I don't see any ghosts._

… … … …

"Sikowitz, please," Tori begs as she stood in the empty class room with her favorite teacher looking at her with a bored expression. "It's not fair to base my whole semester's history grade with just one trip."

"Tori, my little Tori," Sikowitz sighs. "This whole Texas thing is an opportunity, can't you see? Only selected people with from MAH III and IV are chosen to go to this trip. You're one of the lucky people in you batch! That's like an honor. You'll learn things about war, and people fighting and history! Isn't it exciting?" Sikowitz jumps and claps his hand, showing excitement. "Plus, Mexican food! Yummy!"

"Wait, hold up," Tori says raising her hands as if surrendering. "MAH III and IV? You mean the Media Arts _Senior _class is joining? You mean Trina is going too?!"

"Well yes, unfortunately."

"THEN THE MORE REASON I DON'T WANT TO GO!"

"Torooooo."

_Oh, Sikowitz. How will I explain this? _"It's just that – you see… ugh."

"You'll have an end semester project that will be the basis of your grade. It is required that you join the trip to do this required short film."

"Can't I just have special assignment or something?" Tori whines.

"I believe that you have to talk to your MAH teacher for that, Toro, or Lane. That's what I told Jade too." Patting Tori's head, Sikowitz leaves the room.

… … … …

Since she is scared as heck to argue with Mr. Fletcher, her strict Media Arts and History teacher, Tori went to Lane's instead.

"Don't tell me what to do, Lane," Tori hears Jades voice from inside Lane's office. "I don't want to go and you can't make me."

"Even if you fail your History, Jade?" Lane's voice calmly replies. Tori keeps her ears pressed on the door, listening to the conversation. "You're a straight A student, I don't think you'll risk this, right?"

"Yes," Jade says softly. "But – "

"I know you're afraid of what might happen in this trip, seeing that it's The Alamo and your family –"

"I don't want to talk about it! I don't even know how you found that out !" Jade cuts off.

"I know my history, Jadelyn."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Tori runs away from the door and hides behind a locker when she hears Jade's boots clicking sounds coming towards the door and she exits Lane's office.

_Jade's a straight A student? I never knew that…_

… … … …

**A/N: **We are nearing the plot guys! I'm sure you know why Tori doesn't want to go to the Alamo, right? Because many people died there, and she sees dead people, so you do the math. Okay question now; what is Jade's problem and why doesn't she want to go to San Antonio, TX? What's up with her family, hm?

I was so super happy I got a lot of good reviews for the first chapter, I happily did the second chapter and here I am again! Please, do review again and give me your lovely opinions.

PS. Correct me if I am wrong, but the flight from LA to San Antonio Texas is at most 3 hours right?


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

"27…28… 29…" Beck reads the seats as he passes. "30.. This is it Jade, your seat. 30E."

Huffing, Jade sits down on her seat while crossing her arms. "This is so unfair. Why do I have to sit all the way at the back?"

"That's because we're seated alphabetically and you're a 'W'. Sucks for you, babe."

"Shut up, Beckett," Jade glares at him as he chuckles and leans in to kiss her forehead.

"Excuse us," comes an impatient voice from behind her.

"Yeah, we need to get to our seat sometime _today_."

Beck turns around to see Tori with a frown and Trina looking bored.

"Oh, I'm sorry Tori," Beck smiles at Tori.

"Oh Beck, its you!" Trina squeals. "Oh please, just take your time," she says giving him a flirty wink. Tori glares at her sister and gave Beck an apologetic look.

Jades scowls at the events in front of her. "Will you stop flirting with _my_ boyfriend!?"

"Oh, the wicked witch is here," Trina says indifferently. "Sucks for you Tori."

And with that, Trina gives her flirty smile to Beck, a glare at Jade and went to sit on her seat which is located at 29A.

Jade then groans again, "Oh why does she have to be so near me?"

"How 'bout you Tori? Aren't you sitting beside her?" Becks asks Tori, ignoring his girlfriend.

"Thank god no. I'm actually in," Tori trails of looking at her ticket, "30F."

Jade groans louder. "Oh no, I'm not going to sit beside her for the entire flight!"

"She's not that bad, Jade," Beck scolds her girlfriend. "Maybe with this flight, you two can be friends. Please try that." He leans in and gives Jade a kiss on her forehead. "I'll see you both later." With that he walks to his seat leaving Tori to sit beside Jade.

Tori tries to be comfortable in her seat while Jade looks outside the window, trying to find something to distract her.

Then suddenly, Sikowitz sits besides Jade giving the girls a fright. "Sooo, I see you two are seated together," he gives them a smug grin.

Jade grunts and says, "I'm not in the mood for this." While Tori says, "I'm not exactly happy with it, Sikowitz."

"Oh well, you have to deal with that because my coconut visions told me you're in for a fun ride," Sikowitz winks and stands up to begin walking to his seat. "At least you people are not seatmates with The Fletch!" he yells and earns himself chuckles from students and a giggle from Cat who is unfortunately seated beside Trina.

Mr. Fletcher, elegantly dressed in a tuxedo, as if going to a Grammy Awards, stomps and gives Sikowitz a glare. "At least I'm not bald, old man!"

Tori rolls her eyes and looks at her very strict, overly-dressed teacher who is glaring at the students. _There's always a glare on his wrinkly face. No surprise there. _She watches as her MAH teacher stomps towards his seat and sat beside Sikowitz at the very front. They starts arguing as Mr. Fletcher's butt touches the seat.

"They're so childish," she comments in which Jade just grunts. Clearly, her seatmate is pretending that she's invisible. _I'm not that bad, am I? _Yeah, Tori… I guess. _Oh! Shut up, narrator! _

Then, Tori's mind fills with thoughts: _I hope there's no ghost in this plane. I don't think I can relax if I know someone died in this very plane! Oh, god I wish Jade will talk to me, though. I don't think I can handle a long flight without talking to someone, let alone Jade. I wish we're not going to Alamo. God, what if I see more bloody baddies there! What if they stalk me!? Oh god, what if – what if they try to do something to me? _

Her trail of thoughts were interrupted with Lane's voice who's checking the attendance. "Valdez, Valentine, Vega," Lane continue as made eye contact with Tori, "Younger Vega, West… Zarra? Wait, where is Mr. Zara?"

"He can't come," the Valdez, senior guy geek, informs Lane. "He got stomach flu."

"Oh," Lane says shrugging her shoulders, "I guess it's just both of you, huh?"

Tori nods her head in agreement and eyes Jade who is still looking at the window. "Yeah, I guess."

"Well, then don't try to kill each other." With that, Lane walks in front to seat at his designated place.

Tori sighs and tries to relax her thoughts. _I'm going to be fine. I'm going to be okay. _She tries to assure herself that nothing too bad will happen. She looks at the window, but catches Jade worried face.

Her head snaps in front when their flight attendant introduce. "Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. I'm Daniel McNamara, your lead flight attendant, and welcome aboard Miles Flight 217, flying non-stop to San Antonio, Texas..."

The flight attendant does the standard spiel as Tori looks worriedly at Jade. The girl beside her becomes more and more nervous. She's gripping both arm rests so tightly that her knuckles turn whiter than she is already. Then, her eyes snap shut when the airplane gains speed as it accelerates to take-off velocity.

Unable to fight the urge to comfort her friend, she closes her hand of Jade's and whispers in her ears, "It's okay, just hold my hand." Jade isn't reacting at all. Maybe she didn't realize that Tori is holding her hand as she grips the armrest for dear life. Tori begins to remove her hands when she realizes that it's _Jade West _she's holding and maybe it's a bad idea, but she felt the hand underneath hers move and intertwines with her fingers. The plane takes off without incident and Jade starts to slowly relax and very cautiously opens her eyes. She abruptly let go of Tori's hand from her tight grip, not even bothering to say thanks.

Tori being Tori smiles her big teasing smile. "Is Jade West afraid of airplanes?"

Jade gives her a hard glare and says, "Shut the hell up, Vega. We never speak of it again."

Tori chuckles and relaxes in her seat again, "Okay, Jade. Whatever you say." Jade, looking at the window again, trying to avoid her gaze (_maybe from embarrassment?) _ignores Tori.

"Thanks though," Jade whispers softly without looking at Tori.

Tori grins, even though Jade probably can't see it. "No problem, I guess. And don't worry, the flights only for 2 hours, it's going to be short and painless."

"2 hours and 54 minutes," Jade corrects her, looking at Tori. "I keep track with this things."

"Oh," Tori says dumbly, regretting what she said earlier. "Then we'll be fine, no matter what."

"Yeah," Jade gives her a playful smirk, "for me, I'm not sure about you."

Tori gulps, visibly stiffing in her seat as Jade hums that scary song again while looking straight ahead. "Okay, Jade. You can st-stop now…"

Jade laughs at the look of fear on Tori's face. "Chill Vega, I was joking."

Sighing in relief, Tori smiles and claps her hand. Jade looks at her weirdly before rummaging through her bag for her book. Tori sighs, knowing that Jade won't talk to her and she's left with her thoughts again so she pulls out her PearPods to listen to some music to keep her mind off things. Listening to music usually helps tune out her gift. Speaking of her gift, Tori idly fingers the business card in the pocket of her pants. Even though she has no intention of ever calling that man, Tori still carries Montague Forester's card with her at all times. _Right, like who does he think he is ... some ghostbuster? Who you gonna call?_ The thought of staunch, GQ-issued Montague Forester wearing coveralls and toting a homemade nuclear reactor on his back makes Tori giggle despite herself. In fact, she's so caught up in her little joke that she automatically pulls down her seat tray when she realizes the flight attendant is standing next to her with the heavily-laden, wheeled cart. It would be much later before it occurs to her that this two and fifty-four long flight wouldn't be serving a complementary meal.

She looks up just as the attendant places the meal on her tray. The scream that Tori emits nearly has the oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling.

As much as she wants, she can't look away. Tori continues to scream and stare at the bloodied one-armed flight attendant and when she reaches out to grab her by the shoulders and shake her, it's minutes before Tori realizes that it's the real flight attendant, Daniel, who's holding her. Only when Jade's gentle hand touches her back does Tori snap out of it. Because only when Jade's gentle hand touches her back does the bloodied flight attendant disappeared.

"I'm sorry", she hiccups to the flight attendant, Daniel, the real one. "I ..." What Tori? What do you say? I was screaming bloody murder because there's a corpse walking around trying to serve people a really bad in-flight meal? Instead, she opts for a more believable story. "I dosed off and had a really bad nightmare. It won't happen again." She gives the attendant a shaky smile. Nice save. Thank god for acting classes, huh?

Then she turns to Jade and mumbles her thanks.

"I didn't do anything, Tori," Jade says softly before rubbing her back, eyeing her curiously and worriedly.

She looks away quickly and sees that Trina is sound asleep while Cat is busy doing _some weird dancing. _They had missed the entire episode. When her eyes travel back towards her tray which she intends to put back, she glances up to see that dead flight attendant watching her sadly from the front of the cabin. Tori can't help the small whimper that escapes her throat and Jade immediately reaches for her shaking hands to hold them, out of instincts.

The spectral flight attendant vanishes.

Tori looks with amazement at Jade. Then, she does the unthinkable. She pushes her hand again while looking up the aisle at the last location of the ghost.

The ghost shimmers into sight.

Tori quickly clutches back onto Jades arm.

The apparition is gone.

Tori turns astonishingly towards Jade and a huge smile breaks onto Tori's face. Jade's watching her in confusion and raised eyebrow, but doesn't say anything.

Tori leans against her seat without taking her hand out of Jade's soft grip. She sighs heavily, in relief and fear that Jade may snap at her at any minute now.

"You know, I really don't understand all this touching," Jade says tracing circles on her hand with her thumb, "But I'll let you hold my hand all throughout the flight because I think _you _need it… And because you helped me out, somehow, earlier."

Tori smiles at her gratefully. "But never tell anyone about this or I'll ruin you." Tori chuckles and says, "Yes Jade. I promise not to be the damn person to ruin your reputation."

"Good," Jade says as he starts to relax in her seat. "Sooo", holding Tori hand is really kind of nice and it makes her feel ... all protective-like. Something she doesn't feel with Beck. "What are you listening to?"

"Well, you know ... music. Probably, nothing you'd be interested in," Tori says shyly.

"Eh, probably but why don't you let me be the judge of that?" She reaches over and pulls the left earbud out of her ear and sticks it in her right ear.

A big smile breaks out on Jade's face and she stares at her in amazement. "Nickelback? You surprise me, Vega. I figured you'd only listen to bubblegum pop tunes or shit like that."

"That's Trina, not me."

Just then, a flush rises in Tori's cheeks as she realizes what song is playing. It's Animals and Chad Kroeger.

_You're beside me on the seat  
Got your hand between my knees  
And you control how fast we go by just how hard you wanna squeeze  
It's hard to steer when you're breathing in my ear  
But I got both hands on the wheel while you got both hands on my gear  
By now, no doubt that we were heading south  
I guess nobody ever taught her not to speak with a full mouth  
'Cause this was it, like flicking on a switch  
It felt so good I almost drove into the ditch_

_Okay, I shouldn't be uncomfortable about this. I mean, Jade's a girl. And she has no 'gear'. Plus, she is a girl! I don't think she even wants to be with a girl that way. Oh god Tori, the hell with you and your way of thinking!_

Luckily, Jade didn't seem to notice her discomfort as she drums her slender fingers on her armrest. That doesn't seem to make Tori any better though.

_Oh this is ridiculous! Why am I embarrass listening to this song with Jade? Psh. We're both girls. I'm not gay… or bisexual… I think. She isn't either. Oh, wait what!? Of course I'm not! I mean, I prefer dudes. Yeah, boys are awesome… but Jade is just… Oh no, Tori Vega. Stop this thought right now!_

She realizes Jade has stopped drumming her fingers and although she's not sure when it happened, her hand is now tightly gripping the pale beauty's upper thigh - very close to her gear as mentioned in the song. _JADE HAS NO GEAR, OKAY!? She's a girl. A very beautiful – OH GOD TORI! Not again._

They both look down at her hand and then, simultaneously, their heads raise to look each other in the eye. And they stay there, mesmerized with each other. Until...

A hand rudely starts shaking Tori's shoulder.

"Tori! We're here! We're here! We've landed" Cat says excitedly, jumping up and down like a giddy kid on sugar rush.

Tori and Jade instantly look out the window and are amazed to see a black tarmac with the runway beyond it.

Amazed, Tori says, "Wow, I can't believe I didn't realize when we landed."

"Yeah, me either"Jade sighs, looking back at her.

"Tori! Come on!" Trina snaps when she realizes that her sister is not moving out from her sit.

… … … …

Tori and the rest of the class makes it through to baggage claim without incident. _Maybe, I should give that Forester guy a call. He could explain why I see what I see and why sometimes I don't see anything. And the whole Jade thing. Well, not the 'Jade-suddenly-looks-beautiful-to-me-I-think-I-mig ht-be-bisexual-or-gay' thing but the Jade-touching thing._

Thinking about Jade just makes her sigh. She's so caught up in the whole Jade thing that she almost doesn't see her luggage and Trina's set until it was nearly at the end of the carousel.

"Tori!" her sister barks, "Bags!"

She scoots off to get them before they disappear through the flap. A few minutes later, she comes struggling back, trying to carry all of their bags and Trina's one garment bag. All of Trina's clothes need to be hung, not folding - even her underwear.

Finally, Tori makes it back to Trina and drops the bags in a heap just as Jade stomps by in a highly vexed state.

"...but Jade..." Beck whines as he tries to keep up with her electric pace. "It wasn't my fault. She only admiring my hair... I swear."

She whizzes around so quickly that Beck slams right into her, causing Jade to drop her overnight bag.

"Oh yeah? Well, I didn't see you trying to move it!" Then, she grabs her bag and exits the airport through the sliding doors.

"Wow!" Trina comments as Tori tries to balance all of their bags again. "I wonder what that was about."

"No idea," Tori says looking at Jade and thinking how hot she looks when she's mad, "but I think this is going to be an interesting field trip after all."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Trina? Please ... can't you help me?"

"I just had my manicure! They're still fresh. Sorry baby sis, I can't," Trina starts to walk away as Tori sighs and says to herself, "Why can't I be an only child?"

… … … …

**A/N: **Okay! The gang is in San Antonio now and soon the reason why they are really here will be discovered! I just love stories about hunted airplanes! It gives me chills Every time. I hope you liked this chapter! Please do tell me about your opinions with this.

Thanks and please R & R.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I was lazy to proof read this so please forgive me for typos, and errors :(

* * *

**Chapter 4:**

"Oh, come on," Jade West whines desperately as she tries to get Mr. Fletcher change his mind about the room arrangement. "I can't have a room with Cat and Tori! Are you trying to kill me?"

"Yes actually," Mr. Fletcher say ever so dramatically. Jade rolls her eyes and taps her foot impatiently. She has been talking to her MAH teacher for almost 15 minutes now since Sikowitz and Lane can't help her with anything. Those dumb adults, as she describes them, told her to talk to Mr. Fletcher about the room changes she wants since he was the one who assigned their rooms. Well actually, they made her talk to him because he is the only teacher in the entire school who isn't afraid of Jade West's threats. "You don't have to be so dramatic over this, Ms. West."

"Oh so I'm the one dramatic here!?"

"Now, now," Mr. Fletcher says calmly. His hands start to make a 'calming' gesture that doesn't help at all to make Jade's mood better. "Don't be such a gank about this, Jade. I'm the teacher here and you do as I told you. I want you to room with Ms. Valentine and Ms. Vega because that's how it is alphabetically." Jade tries to open her mouth but her teacher cuts her off, already knowing what she is about to say. "No, I will not let you sleep with the boys, especially your boyfriend. I have rules here, and I expect you to not break them if you don't want to risks getting an F in my subject."

"That's so stupid."

Rubbing his temple and sighing, Mr. Fletcher asks, "Didn't I already do you a favor by separating the seniors and juniors in the room arrangement? Or else you will end up rooming with the older Vega. And I won't tolerate murder."

"And you think I won't try to murder both Cat and Tori?"

"Aren't they your friends?"

Groaning out of frustration, Jade cries, "Tori is not my friend and Cat is basically a pet!"

Some weird barking from Cat can be heard from behind them. Jade didn't dare look. "Oh well, Ms. West, I guess you have to deal with it." Mr. Fletcher says, sternly looking at her, challenging her if she has to say something else.

"Okay, okay. How about this," Jade suggests as she opens her messenger bag and took out her wallet. She pulls out an American Express Card and hands it to the clerk. "I'll just pay for my own private room and then everyone will be happy."

Fletcher crosses his hands and chuckles, shaking his head from side to side as he watches Jade glaring at the clerk. The clerk seems scared and might as well pee in his pants. "Uh- I'm sorry miss. But, I - as I was explaining to Mr. Fletcher here, we're hostin' the annual orthodontics convention," explains the clerk. "And there are simply aren't any more rooms available."

Jade stares at the guy for a second, trying to understand what he said for a moment since she didn't catch it because of his heavy Texas accent.

Misinterpreting her silence for something else, he explains in a slower, syrupy-sweet voice, "They're dentists, miss; it's a dentist convention."

Realizing she's being patronized, Jade exclaims, "I know what orthodontics means! What do you think I am, a fucking stupid?!" Jade clicks her perfectly straight, bright-white teeth at the clerk, who shrinks back in surprise as if he thinks Jade might bite her.

"Aaaah!" Jade screams in frustration.

… … … …

"Oooo, this is nice," exclaims Cat as she walks into Room 217.

Tori thinks the room is okay, but she can't stop the feeling she has that somebody may have died in the very room. The room is moderately sized with one king-sized bed and one normal-sized bed that can only fit one person, a small table and two chairs. The decor looks like it came from the local Wal-mart - a Texas Wal-mart if the over abundance of tacky southwestern knick knacks are taken into consideration.

The porter wheels the luggage cart into the room. It's piled high with luggage, both from hers and Cats and _Jades_. _Oh no, I don't think it's a good idea to room with Jade right now. _

"Tori, do you have some cash?"Cat sweetly asks her roommate. "I don't have any."

"Oh," Tori says in surprise, "um ... sure. Just let me find some change."

The porter rolls his eyes when she places the two quarters in his proffered hand. "Thank you," she says shyly.

After closing the door, Tori ignores Cat and walks directly to the air conditioning unit at the window. The room is stiflingly hot and the half-Latina can already feel the sweat starting to drip down between her breasts. She twists one dial to full cold and the other to high, then she lets out a sigh of relief as the unit starts up with a groan.

"Oooo, you should see how big the bathroom is," echoes Cat's voice from the bathroom.

Tori is leaning over the air conditioner with her shirt pulled up over her bra to try and speed her cool down. _It's so freaking hot here._ She so caught up in the luxury of machined cooled air that she doesn't hear the knock at the door over the blast of the noisy A/C unit.

Cat opens the door to find an angry looking Jade.

"Hey," Cat says excitedly, "why are you here?"

"Unfortunately," Jade stomps inside and places her messenger bag on the bed nearest to her, "I'm stuck with both of you."

"Oh yey! That's so great!" Cat squeals and told a random story about his brother's sleep over party.

Jade isn't saying anything to Cat or hear if someone even bother to enter their room. In fact her attention is drawn across the room to where Tori is standing seeming flashing the air conditioner_. Lucky air conditioner, _Jade thought as she bites her bottom lip unconsciously. Tori pulled her tight tank up above her hot pink lace bra. Despite herself, Jade can't help but wonder if she's wearing matching panties. _Oh shit, why am I thinking about Vega this way? Put your shit in place, West._

"Andre! Beck!" Cat's shrill voice, greeting their guests is the only thing that made Jade pull herself out of her thoughts. She turns around to see Andre and her _boyfriend _gawking at the same view she was admiring earlier. Now, all Jade can see is red. And nope, that's not because Beck was looking at Tori's body.

"Vega!" Jade barks. "Pull your shirt down!"

Tori only hears her name and she whirls around to see Jade staring at her from the door. Oh, there are other people in the room, but at this very instant she can't tell you who they are.

_Oh! Double crap, it has laced all over them. _Suddenly, Jade's pants suddenly felt a little damp. Tori sees her green eyes widen and she gulps visibly, she suddenly felt very naked.

_Shit! I nearly am naked!_

She quickly pulls down her tank top and tries to look casual. She also tries to not feel the heat on her cheeks or the gaze intently on her from the black-haired beauty she has been crushing on.

… … … …

"Look, I don't know what you're problem is and I really don't care, but I need to use the shower so you need to get out!"

Tori's voice is challenging and Cat can't help but hear her (especially since she has her hear pressed up against the bathroom door).

_Oh my, why I never knew there's another person in this room,_ Cat thinks as she shrugs. Tori sounds like she's having trouble showering and Cat is curious.

Inside the bathroom, Tori is standing with her towel wrapped around herself and getting angrier and angrier by the minute. Yeah, she is totally pissed.

An equally angry-looking older woman is staring back at her from inside the bathtub. Thankfully, she, too, has a towel draped around her. She has bluish-grey hair which is piled on her head in a beehive hairdo with loads of hairspray.

When Tori first came in, she thought she'd somehow walked into the wrong bathroom. She was only half awake after listening to Cat snore all night. She slept with the girl last night and it exhausted her. No, not that! They did not have sex. _It's just that, the room has two beds. And trust me, Jade got angrier when she learned that the room she is sharing with me and Cat only have two beds. And she insisted for me to sleep with Cat on the smaller bed while she sleeps comfortably on the king-sized bed! Ugh that girl! And Cat kicks in her sleep! Don't ask me how many times I ended up on the floor. Ugh_.

"Are you even listening to me?" The woman in front of her demanded an answer.

"Wh-? Yeaaah," Tori sleepily said, groaning when she realizes that the woman in front of her didn't move when she asked her to.

It isn't until the woman starts yelling at Tori about her own murder that Tori realizes she is talking to a ghost. Her first clue should have been the beehive hair; but since this is Texas, Tori quickly discounted that. She has seen plenty of women with that hair style just since she stepped off the plane.

Tori is fed up. All she wants is a shower and the old lady doesn't want to budge. Unfortunately, she does want to talk.

"I was murdered in 1982 and I've been stuck in here ever since."

"Wow, just like Moaning Myrtle," says Tori and then, tries to explain, "You know, Harry Potter? Of course, you don't. Um, sorry ... go on."

"Look here, you think I like living here, in this bathroom, for forever. Well, I don't, but I can't seem to move on until I can receive justice."

"Justice? What kind of justice?"Tori's interest is peaked.

"My death was ruled an accident, by electrocution. The police determined that a hairdryer, one of those new-fangled hand-held ones, accidentally dropped in the tub."

"But that's ridiculous," Tori says, clearly not watching her words. "You've got old lady helmet. Why would you use a blowdryer?"

"I beg your pardon", the ghost says indignantly.

"You have your hair done every week, right. Just like my grandma. So you would never use a blowdryer." Tori finally snaps when she realize that her words must offend the lady, "Oh! I didn't mean to – "

"Finally, I've been trying to tell people that for 25 years. Soooo, do you think you can help me?" The old lady sits down on the edge of the bathtub and starts to relax a little. "Will you tell someone the truth?"

"Depends... Will you get out of the tub, so I can take my shower? And will you leave me alone for the rest of my stay here?"

"Of course, just let me tell you my name and the details."

"Fine. I think I have someone I can call who might be able to help."

When Tori finally comes out of the bathroom 30 minutes later, Cat is sitting on the chair in the far corner of the room.

"Um ... hi. Sorry I took so long," says Tori giving the girl a sly smile.

"Who were you talking to, Tori?" The red-head asked curiously. Tilting her head and biting her lip as she waits for an answer.

_Uh-oh. _"No one, Cat. I was just… uh practicing. Yeah, practicing my lines for the upcoming play…"

"But, there is no play coming yet. There's no announcement of sign-up sheets," _Damn, this girl is actually smart._

"Yeah? Well," _Come on Tori, think of a good lie. _"We have this small.. uh… talent show in our neighborhood. They asked me to audition for the play they are planning to hold."

"Oh," Cat seems to give-in to that poorly thought lie. _It is not poor! I think it was kind a good. _Whatever Tori, but thank god that Cat has an attention span of a 5 year old. "You know Tori, one time when my brother was planning on a – "

_And here we go. _Tori sighs as she pretend to listen to Cat's story.

… … … …

Jade enters the lobby with her nose in a book and coffee at hand. She walks right into Lane who is coming out of the dining room with Sikowitz and Mr. Fletcher. The two adults, Sikowitz and Fletcher, seem to have reached an uneasy ceasefire; at least, they aren't actively attacking each other anymore. The book hit the ground between Jade and Lane and Sikowitz is the first to react. He bends down and picks it up. Then, he stops to study it before handing it back to Jade. The book is old, its age made obvious by the yellowing of the pages. It's bound together by leather lacing and looks homemade.

"Aaah, how interesting: The Journal of Jonathon West. This looks very old," Sikowitz comments while taking a sip of coconut milk from the coconut he's holding. "I did not peg you as an old-book reader Jade."

"Yeah," says Jade. "I can read whatever I want to read."

Sikowitz and Fletcher simultaneously chuckles. "I hope you had a good night's sleep, Ms. West?" Mr. Fletcher formally asked trying to have a conversation.

But as expected, Jade rolled her eyes. "No, Mr. Fletcher. I didn't. All thanks to your crappy sleeping arrangement."

This time Mr. Fletcher is the one who rolled his eyes. "I'm sure Ms. Valentine and Ms. Vega were not that bad."

Jade feels her cheeks heating up when he said Tori's name. The image of the girl nearly naked in front of the A/C floods her mind. "Cat snores," she says.

With that, Sikowitz laughs. "What so funny?" Lane asks the old man who seems to not being able to stop laughing.

"Nothing," Sikowits continues to laugh hysterically. "Okay, okay. Come on Fletch, let's go to the bus now. My coconut milk gave me visions that Lane wants to talk to Jade alone."

"I still don't get how coconuts can give you visions," Mr. Fletcher seems to frown but he still follows Sikowitz out to the bus.

"That was weird," Lane says and then, he turns back to Jade with a disapproving look in his eyes.

Jade, anticipating what's going to come, tries to distract Lane, "Yeah. Weird. I guess those two aren't trying to kill each other anymore, huh?"

Ignoring her comment, Lane asks, "What's going on, Jade? Why did you bring that book? Nothing good can come of dredging up this old history."

"Lane, this thing has haunted MY family for over 150 years. Maybe, since we're here, I'll be able to prove..."

"Jade…" Lane says in warning, "drop it!" Then, he takes a calming breath and puts his hand on Jade's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Jade, but I just don't think it's worth it. History is history. No one can change that."

"My god, Lane," Jade is now losing her temper. "I don't get why you know so much about me and MY family. I don't care of what you say. I'm doing this because it is MY family's history. You don't understand because it's not yours! Just let me do my own thing. You don't have any say in this."

"I just want to protect –"

"Protect me from what?! Tell me what could possibly happen if I want to try and change history!"

"I'm protecting you from the disappointment because you can't change history, Jade!"

Jade is taken aback. "I won't, Lane. I won't disappoint myself because Jade West always succeeds."

Lane sighs in defeat. And with that Jade left Lane and she opens her book back up and walks off to find Beck and eat breakfast.

He was only protecting her from the possible disappointment she will encounter when she realize that she can't do anything to change what she wants to. But Lane realizes that she is trying this for her family, for her dad. Maybe, if she does succeed here, her dad will not be disappointed of her anymore. Maybe, it will also help her attitude. Lane sighs again even if Jade is nowhere in sight. Maybe he just needs to let Jade do her thing. _And if she come back home to LA disappointed, Jade West can handle herself. I hope._

… … … …

**A/N: **Ahhhh! I'm really glad for all the reviews I received for the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one too! And I hope it makes you very very intrigue.

:) Please do tell me of what you think! :) Review! Mwa! xoxo


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Before you read this chapter I have for you, please give me time to thank you so much for reading this. I'm sorry if I took so long to update this chapter. I guess I have to blame writer's block there. I have to freaking watch 5 Victorious episodes and read all the Jori fluff I could find, just to be inspired to write this. Trust me I had a hard time writing this chapter… It's going to be the last one. And I thank you, all of you, for your support. And for my reviewers, I can't thank you enough for your kind words and praises I got for this story. You don't know how much it inspired me to write this story. Thank you so much.

I hope you have fun reading this last chapter of _To Speak for The Dead._

So here we go, let us all meet Johnny West.

* * *

**Chapter 5: **

The charter bus stops with a loud squeaking of brakes and almost everyone looks out the windows on the right side.

Trina, who is staring out the left side of the bus, comments to Tori, "Looks like a Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum to me."

Tori turns away from the Alamo to stare incredulously at her sister. Then, she glances out the window to where he's staring. "Triiiiiina!" she whispers, "That is a Ripley's Believe or Not. The Alamo's on the other side!" She turns Trina's head to the right so she can see the mission.

"Ohhhh," Trina exclaims and nods enthusiastically. "I can imagine a film coming up just by looking at it! I am that great."

"That's it?" Rex, from Robbie's lap, asks in disappointment. "That's what all the fuss is about? It's so small and I always thought the Alamo would be out in the middle of open country, not right in the middle of downtown."

The small Spanish-style mission sits about 200 yards from the street. Its worn limestone walls look dirty and bleak in the harsh sunlight. The door is flanked on each side by two decorative columns and the arched doorway is open, meaning that the historic site is open to tourists.

"Rex..." Robbie starts to chastise him, but Jade, surprisingly, interrupts the puppet owner with her own explanation.

"You have to imagine what it looked like 171 years ago, stupid. There was nothing else here for miles and miles. The small town of San Antonio was separated from the mission by the river and most of the houses were near the town. They were hundreds of miles away from anything near to a city. And there they were... this rag-tag band of men - rebels, they were called, but in their mind they were just defending their way of life - their dream."

Other conversations on the bus have halted. Everyone has their eyes glued on Jade, even Cat is paying attention.

But Jade didn't care about her peer's silent and curious looks, she just continues, "And they fought for that way of life. They fought against absurd odds - against a trained army of 2,000 men. ... Think about that ... There were less than 200 Texans, fighting against overwhelming numbers. They must have known going into this thing that there was no way they'd come out alive, much less win. So when you look at that tiny stone mission and say 'that's it'... Well, yeah ... that's it ... That's really it. That's what this world is all about."

But when she realized that everyone is staring at her, Jade looks around, giving each and every at her an icy glare.

"What are you all staring at?" she barks and grabs her bag. Without giving anyone a second look, she exits the bus and out to the sidewalk.

"Wow, I never knew Jade was so into history," Andre says in complete awe.

"She's smart!" Cat pipes in.

"I thought she hates history," Robbie says curiously, his eyes never leaving Jade's figure as she walks.

Beck sighs contentedly. "She's probably ahead all of us, as usual, researching to find a good storyline for the short film," he tells Andre. "She needs to know all the history to write the perfect script, right?"

Andre nods in agreement. "Yeah, right."

But Tori, Tori stares after Jade with concern, but doesn't comment. _Something is wrong here. _

Mr. Fletcher stands up to announce that they should start to file off the bus in an orderly fashion. Lane is already off and has pulled Jade over to have a private conversation with her. No one can make out what they're talking about but Tori tries to get a better look. She's really worried about Jade. Jade is just nodding her head as Lane speaks to her calmly. _How'd you know its calm? _Well, for starters, I already have a guess on what they're talking about and can't you see Lane's gestures? It's as if he's talking to a five year old who got her candy stolen by a three year old. It surprises me, though, that Jade isn't chewing his head off at this moment. _You're right. Yeah, it's probably something I shouldn't be worried about. _… Uh… Riiiight. Sure thing, Tori, whatever you want to think. _Hey! You're hiding something. _

Anyways, as soon as Tori steps off the bus, she open her Pearphone and dials Montague Forester's number again. She's been trying to reach him since Cat stepped into the shower this morning and she was finally alone. Unfortunately, she's only reached his voicemail and it isn't something she can say in a message. Luckily, since she is focusing on this much needed phone call, she's not even thinking about all the dead she'll undoubtedly see soon.

"Hello? Montague Forester speaking."

"Mr. Forester? Hi, this is Tori. Tori Vega from LA."

"Of course ... Miss Vega. I've been expecting your call. When shall we expect you?"

"Expect me? Oh no, I'm not coming to you." Then, she looks around to make sure no one's listening and continues, "Look, I just need your help is all. It's about an old murder case. Actually, it was classified as an accident, but the victim, Mrs. Crisholm, insists that she was murdered and I was just wondering if you could help. You know, like, maybe you have the resources for something like that."

"Oh, this is wonderful!" Mr. Forester exclaims so loudly that Tori has to hold the phone away from her ear. "So you've actually made another Class Three contact and you're attempting to aid the subject?"

"What? No. What I'm attempting to do is take a shower."

"I beg your pardon?" Tori can almost hear him blush through the telephone.

"No, no, no. Not now. Look, just listen, okay?" Tori walks off away from the group as she continues to explain her encounter with the 'ghost in the tub'.

… … … …

Sensing that his girlfriend is in a sour mood; Beck, walks toward his girlfriend and wraps his arms around her, hugging her from behind. Jade froze and Beck hesitates to let go of her, but he did clearly aware of her discomfort.

Jade looks at him glaring, "Beck, you know how I hate it when you come like that by surprise! You're lucky I didn't have scissors at the moment or your hair will be all gone by now."

"Whoa Jade. I'm sorry," Beck says his voice full of concern. "I – I didn't mean to upset you."

Jade sighs. She is regretting her attitude towards Beck. "I'm just in a bad moon, Beck. Please… leave me alone for a moment?"

Beck wants to ask what happened. He wants to know if it has something to do with Lane since they talk a lot in private… or maybe Tori. Ever since they left the airport yesterday (or was it the night before last night?), Jade is acting a little too strange. She's awfully quiet and drowns all her time reading the stupid old book she always carry since their MAH teacher announced that they were visiting San Antonio. And he can notice her _stares_. Stares towards Tori when she thinks no one's looking. Especially, with the incident with the air conditioning yesterday, when Tori was somehow half-naked. _Yeah, Jade looks like she just want to jump onto Tori like she's her prey. _Sure, Beck thinks it's hot but Jade is his girlfriend. _Jade should have been jealous of me looking and having a bulge in my pants just because of the sight I was seeing. But no, Jade didn't even argue with me after she asks Tori to pull her shirt down. She ought to be jealous and furious to me because of it! Ugh… what is happening, Jade? _Of course, not wanting to push further, Beck didn't ask her that out loud. Instead, he walks away as Jade's request and that left him with his thoughts again.

_We all know Jade is bi-sexual. But Tori? I don't think she'll be Jade's type. I mean, hey, Tori's a great girl and everything. Sun shine and candies. Bright colors and fluffy clouds. That's Tori. Jade – well, she's dark and mysterious. Deadly and fascinating. Mixing them together in a relationship will be a murder to one. So no, Tori can't be the problem here. There's something Jade is hiding from me. And I need to know what that is because I have a hunch that whatever this is can be enough reason for her to end our relationship. I can't do that, no. Jade West needs a Beck Oliver in her life. She can't leave me and I will not let her secret break us apart. _

At that moment, Cat, Robbie, and Andre joined Beck.

"Wow," Robbie whistles as they enter the building. "So you're telling me that only 200 men or so held off an entire army in this place?"

Beck walks off to the left and leaves the three standing alone to examine the mission.

"Uh huh," Andre hums in agreement. Their eyes scan the building.

There are several glass cases which house some of the guns, knives and clothing worn by many of the men who fought and died during the battle.

"That's actually pretty impressive," Rex comments as Robbie and Andre nods. Cat is busy looking at a glass case where a soldier's bloody uniform is displayed.

"I think clothes with dried brownish goo is the fashion in the old times," she chuckles. Andre rolls her eyes.

"Cat, honey, those stains are blood," Robbie tries to explain as Cat's eyes widen in shock.

"You mean," Cat says in total disbelief, "They kill other people just to be in the fashion trend! Oh no."

"Oh Cat," Robbie sighs as Andre rolls his eyes again.

"You know," Beck says as he joins them and hands everyone a pamphlet which he went to collect, "one of my ancestors was a survivor of the Alamo."

"I thought everyone died," Andre says.

"Oh no, that's wrong, Andre. But it's a common mistake," he explains. "Only the men were killed, there were actually quite a few women and children and one male slave who lived. And one of them was my many times removed, great grandmother."

"Really? That's amazing," Robbie comments with interest.

"Yeah," agrees Andre. "It would be cool to be related to a survivor of the Alamo."

"It's not all it's cracked up to be," Jade, who just made her way to the small group, mumbles too lowly for anyone else to hear.

"Oh! Jade! Hi hi!" Cat greets in her cheerful self. Jade wonders how she could be so cheerful in the Alamo. _But Cat's Cat. No need to give that too much thought._

"Oh well, let's go see if we can find out anything about Beck's grandma," Andre says as he drags Cat and Robbie off to look at some of the display cases.

"Jade?..." Beck, who couldn't control himself, asks tentatively as he approaches her. "Are you okay? You seem so different lately."

"I'm fine. Never better. I just need some air, that's all."

And before he can stop her, Jade turns and walks out the back of the mission, leaving Beck standing there alone. He turns around in confusion and sees Tori walk in the front door. He hesitated at first, but he walks up to the half-Latina.

"Hey, Tori," Beck says catching the scared look Tori has on her face. But it quickly fades when she realized that it's only Beck.

Sighing in relief, Tori replies, "Beck, hey."

"You look a little pale, Tor. Are you okay?" says Beck voice full of concern but he thinks, _Is she afraid to see me? _

Tori gets paler, if that's possible, when she averted her eyes from Beck to a _bloodied soldier _behind him. Scared as hell, Tori lets out a whimper that doesn't go unheard by Beck.

Beck looking alarmed, turns around to find what Tori is so scared about. He only say some adult looking at a case and _Jade _admiring the displayed guns. _Tori is scared of Jade? _

"I – I have to – to go Beck," Tori stammers and runs away from a curious, very curious Beck. _Okay, something is really up._

… … … …

Tori is stunned, scared, frightened. She saw so many ghosts already but the one behind Beck was the scariest so far. The ghost is in his soldier uniform, all dirty and bloody. But that didn't make Tori whimper. It's the fact that the ghost winks at her and showed her that he is headless. _He just grabbed his head and he threw it over me like a freaking basketball! It went through Beck's chest! That's just the scariest and most gross thing I've ever seen in my entire life! _

When Tori decided that she run far enough from the scary ghost, she slowly walks around the dim room she got herself in. Spying a bench in an isolated corner, Tori sits down and fanned herself with her hand (which is not good in producing air that can cool herself off.)

"Yee-haw!" Suddenly, she hears loud, boisterous laughter coming from the middle of the room and looks up to see some senior guys decked out in cowboy boots and cowboy hats and dancing around like ... like they're in a Texas version of a Disney musical or something.

_And to think we go to the same school._

Tori looks down and sees the obnoxious name tag that Mr. Fletcher insisted that everyone wear.

_Like we're in elementary school._

She doesn't want anyone to know she's from the same school as those idiots, so she quickly pulls the thing off. When she looks back up, Tori is relieved to see that the Hollywood Arts cowboys are being escorted out by a large, burly security guard. Wow Tor, I guess Jade is rubbing off on you huh?

"My, oh my. Now, don't that beat all," comes a southern accent from Tori's left.

She looks over to see a man sitting next to her, watching the show. He, too, is dressed like a Texan ... sort of.

"Oh – uh, um…" Tori tries to mind the right words to say to the stranger beside her. "You don't look like one of them." She calmly says pointing to where the cowboys were a while ago. She thought the man beside her is one of those idiots since he is somehow dressed in the same fashion. "You don't look like from HA."

"HA? I don't know what 'yer talkin' 'bout, miss."

The stranger is wearing some sort of hand sewn leather boots and has his pant legs tucked into them. He's also wearing a long sleeve cotton shirt with blousing sleeves and buttoned cuffs and on his head sits a weather-beaten old hat. And to top it all off, he's covered in dust.

He looks over at her in surprise and quickly rips his hat off his head before speaking, dust billowing about in the air. "Oh I don't think I know you at all, miss. Have we been introduced, cuz I thought I knew everybody here."

"Yeah… I never met you before…" Tori turns to fully study him. There is something about him that is oh so familiar. Something is ringing in her brain. "Are you from here, sir? Your accents sounds like you're a local," Tori says politely.

"I - what? I'm not from Texas, ma'am. I was born and bred in the hill country of Tennessee," he says in confusion because she is studying him. "I am Johnny West, ma'am and please stop staring at me like I have a disease."

"Oh," Tori blushes. "I'm sorry Johnny… I didn't mean to – "_ Wait, West? Johnny West? _"You didn't mean you're Jonathon West?"

"Wow, am I famous?" He chuckles. "The one and only!"

_Shit, shit, shit. _How'd you know about Johnathon West, Tori? _Well, that's the name engraved on the old leather book Jade was reading last night before we went to bed. Everything just clicked. Maybe this is why she's so weird all day. I just assumed that he's the same person. Shit. So that's why his accent is strong and his clothes are old and dirty. Shit, shit, shit._

"Ma'am, are you alright?"

"You – you're not real! You… you're dead!"

"Yessum, 'course I am. You are too, right? I-I mean how else could you be talkin' to me?"

Tori begins to stand up in fear, and run but when she looks up to find herself staring at beautiful emerald green eyes with blue specks, very familiar eyes looking down at her - _Jade's eyes. Those are Jade's eyes – _she begins to relax in her seat again. _Johnny has Jade's eyes. Or wait, Jade has Johnny's eyes._

"Beckett Oliver you come back here!" a voice sounding like Cat's followed by loud laughter broke Tori's trance.

But the man – Johnny – went rigid in his sit. "Beckette Oliver, ma'am? Do you know her?"

Confused, she replies, "Well _he _is my friend, yes."

He didn't seem to hear her correct him. He walks to her and with his hat gripped tightly in his hand, speaks to her earnestly. "You stay away from her. She's a Jezebel and worst yet, a spy and a traitor to Texas."

"How the heck can Beck –"

"You stay away from her! She's dangerous! Dangerous, dangerous lady."

"Look, sir, I really don't think that – " Suddenly, someone with a soft hand touches Tori's shoulder and Johnny disappeared. _Jade. _

"Vega, are you alright?" Tori turns around to see emerald green eyes with blue specks, looking down at her with concern, genuine concern.

"Yeah, Jade… I'm – I just need to get out of this place."

"Yeah. Me too," she says and then guides her away from the open door and towards some shade trees nearby. "Come on, let's get you out to the sun."

"I need to get away from here. Can we go somewhere else?" Then, she pulls back from Jade and looks her in her eyes, and says, "I think I need to tell you something."

"Sure," surprisingly Jade agrees.

… … … …

"That was an odd behavior," Beck looks suspicious when he saw Tori in an isolated corner talking to herself.

"And Jade's acting a lot weird too," Robbie spats in as he watches Tori and Jade run out of the building together.

Beck looks at him, studying the boy before saying, "Yeah."

"I found it!" shouts Andre from the panel he's been studying.

"Here she is, Beckette Oliver. She's famous! And ah..." Andre seems to hesitate now. "I, um, also found a West, Johnny West. He's sort of in-famous."

The two boys and Cat join him and start to read.

"Wow, your ancestors were involved. That's sort of romantic," Cat coos.

"Not so fast, Cat," Andre advises. "Just keep reading. I think I found out why Jade's been acting so weird."

"Wait – why is your many-greats grandma has the same name as you? You have a girl's name?" Cat innocently asks Beck.

"She's Beckette, with an 'E' at the end," Beck answers her with a poker face and he glares at Robbie and Andre when he saw them chuckle.

* * *

**A/N: **It's done, it's done, it's done! Yey! I mean the chapter, not the whole story itself. *winks* I was joking earlier. I probably have 5 more chapters planned for this story so please, please don't get tired of me. HAHAHAHA! Mwa! I love you all my readers! Thank you so much for supporting me. *grins*

So, this chapter consisted of 3,420 words, 8 pages in my notepad app. This is the longest chapter I wrote. Ever. And I seriously had a hard time doing this because I don't know how to start and end it. (Plus there is a lot of research work, trust me) So sorry if it's crappy and shit. But, please, let me know of what you think about this chapter and what you think is going to happen next. Because seriously, I enjoy reading your thoughts and opinions.

I am sorry for the mistakes and errors. I will try to proof read this later.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Meh, I know you're skipping this author's note. So here's the story.

I hope it gives you headache. Then I'll change my name to I Will Give You Headache.

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

Fifteen minutes and two city blocks later, Tori and Jade find themselves in Skybucks. It's soothing jazz music and familiar color scheme are just what Tori needs to feel at home.

Jade finds them a seat at a small table with two chairs and Tori brings over their drinks.

"Here you go, iced black coffee with two sugars and ... a chocolate milkshake for me."

Jade laughs. "Skybucks doesn't sell milkshakes."

"Of course they do. They also sell oversized pieces of cake; but by calling them muffins, they make you think you're eating something healthy. This," Tori says, pointing to her Venti Skybucks cup, "is a Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino Blended Crème, ... which is mocha syrup, chocolate chips, and milk, tossed into a blender and topped with whipped cream. It's also 670 calories. If that's not a milkshake, I don't know what is."

"Wow, 670 calories? How come you are still skinny? You always drink frap."

"I am not that skinny, am I?" Tori asks, she seems insecure of herself.

"Yeah, suuuure," Jade chuckles as she drinks her coffee. Tori glares at the girl seated across from her seat.

They become silent and after a deep breath and a sip of her drink, Tori realizes it's time to talk.

"Jade, ah - something's happened to me ... and ... I need to confide in someone."

Jade raises her pierced eyebrow and looks at Tori curiously. "That sounds serious," Jade licks her lips and appears to study her closely before continuing. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"Pregnant?!" Several heads turn to look at them. "No. I'm ... not ... pregnant," she hisses out in a lowered voice. "Look, I never thought I'd say this, at least not out loud, but for some reason I trust you. It's just ... well, I see dead people."

"That's a good one and you're a lot cuter than Haley Joel Osment," Jade chuckles slightly and briefly considers looking around the room for the hidden camera.

Tori continues to stare at Jade in complete seriousness. _Okay, I think this is really serious, _Jade thinks as she sighs and listen to Tori's explanation.

"I'm not joking ... and ... well, this last ... ghost, spirit, apparition, ... whatever, ... well, I think you might be interested in him. He told me his name was Johnny West and he – his eyes..."

Jade is just about ready to bolt, thinking that she must have found what about her ancestor from the information in the Alamo, but when Jade heard about the eyes...

"What about his eyes?" Jade asks as she draws her head closer to hers.

"They were green, like yours."

That's knowledge she can't gain from any informational wall in the Texas mission or anywhere else for that matter, except a certain journal - the journal that's currently safely resting in Jade's bag.

"Okay, I'm willing to listen, but not here," she looks around the room nervously. "These Texans have a long memory."Let's go back to the hotel."

They stand to leave and Tori thinks nothing of it when Jade reaches for her hand probably from instincts.

… … … …

When they are finally secured in the room, Tori tells Jade in detail the story. Starting with her near death experience and ending with her conversation with Johnny West.

"Wow," Jade's sitting with her elbows on her knees and her face resting on the palms of her open hands.

"So...do you think I'm crazy ... or, maybe, possessed?"

"Possessed? Why would you ask that?"

"Nothing. It's just so surreal."

"And I don't think you're crazy either. I think I actually believe you."

"Now, who's crazy?" Tori asks wryly. This is actually a different Jade she's seeing right at this moment. _Maybe this Johnny West is very important to her. _

Jade grabs two bottles of water out of the mini-refrigerator. Offering one to Tori and twisting off the top on the other, she settles back down in the chair.

"You know stuff that isn't in the history books, Vega. So unless you somehow snuck into my house and took a look at our family history stuff, you have to be telling the truth."

"So you are related to this guy?"

"Yeah, he's my great-great-great-great-great grandfather."

"That's a lot of greats."

"Tell me about it," Jade sighs and then, takes a long drink from her water bottle. "Anyway, he told you he was from Tennessee." Tori nods in agreement. "Well, if you look at all the misinformation written about him, it says he's from Kentucky. And that's wrong, he really was from Tennessee. He came down to Texas with Davy Crockett in 1835. Crockett was like a second father to him, from what I've read. And his eyes were green. That's documented in his wife's papers. In one history book, it says that he has deep blue eyes, which is stupid."

"Now the thing that confuses and interests me the most is this stuff about Beckette Oliver. Yes, I know there's a Beckette Oliver, Vega," Jade says before Tori can open her mouth. "I've never read anything bad about her, though. She was one of the women, along with my many greats grandmother, Johnny's wife, who survived. That's documented. But why was Johnny warning you about her? Who was she to him? Did he say?"

"Nothing other than what I already told you - that she's a Jezebel." And then with a quizzical look on Tori's face, she asks, "What's a Jezebel, anyway?"

"Well, I think it's from the bible. She was some sort of old testament queen or something who worshiped idols."

"Idols? What's that got to do with the Alamo?"

"I don't know," Jade sighs, clearly frustrated with all the things she learned form Tori. "Look I don't think we need to concentrate on the Jezebel part. I think we need to concentrate on the trust part and why he was warning you away from her. I mean she's not even alive! The next time you see him you need to..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tori exclaims as she raises her hands in the air to ward her off. "There isn't going to be any next time. I don't ever plan on going there again. Understand?"

Jade sneers. She is really taking into consideration that yelling at Tori right now is a better idea than taking all this calmly. "Tori, this is really important to me ... to my family. Look, it may not seem like such a big deal to us today, in California, but Mary West, Johnny's wife, and their son, survived the Alamo and were practically run out of the state on a rail because of what they thought Johnny did. And it's gone down in the history books that my ancestor was responsible for the slaughter."

"What did he do?" and then at the pained expression on Jade's face, Tori quickly amends, "I mean, what do they think he did?"

"Johnny West was a scout." Tori smirks at her. "And no, not a boy scout, Vega ... a scout is a man who would run messages and reconnaissance for the military. Well, Travis, the commander at the Alamo, gave Johnny a letter to deliver to Sam Houston. In it he pleaded for Colonel Houston to send reinforcements to help defend against Santa Ana's army. But ... Johnny never delivered that message. The assumption was that he took the ring, stole some money and deserted."

"What ring?"

"Major Travis' Masonic ring. He was a Mason and so was Sam Houston and he knew the request would be taken seriously if Johnny West gave him the ring. Johnny was never found. His wife always said that he would never have betrayed those men. She always thought there was a spy within the mission and that this spy somehow caught Johnny and killed him before he made it to Houston."

"If Johnny is haunting the Alamo, then he must have died there or very near there," Tori observes. "That's the one thing I've figured out about this dead stuff. Also, that the ghost must have some reason to stay behind, like to right some wrong or something. Otherwise, I'd be seeing dead people everywhere. I mean think about it. Since time began, more people have died than are now alive. They outnumber us."

"Wow, that's very insightful," Jade says in complete awe.

"Not really, it's something I picked up from one of those Living Dead movies - you know the one in the shopping mall."

"Oooo, that isn't a bad movie," Jade says with a grin on her face. Tori chuckles. _Maybe we are starting to be closer now, huh? This is great!_

"Me, too," She smiles at Jade and then, takes a deep breath. "Okay... if ... and this is a big if ... If I agree to help you, will you help me?" Tori asks seriously. _Here goes nothing._

"I don't know, Tori…"

"Oh come on Jade! I know this is important to you! Please, please? Just a little favor!"

"Alright, alright," Jade gives in. "What is it?"

"Touch me," she deadpans.

"What the fuck?" Despite Jade, her words cause an immediate and almost painful ache in her lady bits.

Completely oblivious to her companion's reaction to her, Tori reaches out both hands to hold onto Jade's. "Look, I don't know why, but whenever I'm in physical contact with you, like on on the airplane for instance, I don't see them. The ghosts, I mean. They're gone and I experience such an incredible feeling of..."

The door opens suddenly and Cat walks in, followed by Andre, Robbie with Rex, and Beck. Jade and Tori jerk away reflexively.

"There are you! We've been looking for you two everywhere," Cat tells them.

"Yeah, man. Fletcher is royally pissed," Andre adds.

"Well, I just needed a break from all that history," Jade explains nonchalantly.

Beck gifts her a suspicious look. "With Tori, really?"

"Yeah, why? What's your problem?" Jade glares at him and he visibly shrinks back from her glare.

"It's just… I thought you two didn't get along?"

"No, no. It's weird really," Tori explains. "I mean, I just need to get out of the Alamo and… Jade needs her break too, so yeah, we kinda left together."

"I'm glad you are beginning to be friends!" Cat says happily as she giggles.

"We're not friends!" Jade counters oblivious to the frown Tori has on her face when she said it.

"Why didn't you ask me if you want to get away, Jade?" Beck starts.

Jade groans and stands up. "I told you I want to be alone, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I find you with Tori? Is there something you're keeping away from me, Jade?" Beck huffs. He is clearly pissed off by the fact that his girlfriend is with _Tori_, who she's supposed to hate. _My girlfriend is keeping me at arm's length. She told me that she wants to have a moment alone but she runs off with Tori. I knew something's wrong. Jade's cheating on me. I just know it._

Sensing that Beck and Jade will start their usual fight, Andre tries to stop them. "Hey guys, chillax, okay?" Andre stands between them and puts both of his hands out like a referee during a boxing fight.

"Yeah, Andre's right," Robbie chimes in. "Besides, it's time for dinner and you two have a lot of explaining to do with Mr. Fletcher."

"Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. I'm starved," Rex says, trying to lighten the mood. Even a puppet knows not to mess with this scene.

Jade just rolls her eyes and starts to leave the room, but she stops suddenly, looks back at Tori and holds her hand out to her, remembering her favor that she needs to do. Tori looks awkwardly at Beck. Jade too, looks at him with the expression 'We'll-talk-about-this-later". Then, she reaches out and clasps Tori's hand tightly as Jade leads her out of the room.

Beck follows behind them, silently fuming.

* * *

**A/N: **So many revelations in one chapter and now Beck thinks Jade's cheating on him. Uh-oh.

Btw…

All that stuff about Johnny West being sent to Sam Houston for reinforcements – It's made up.

Someone was sent to Houston for reinforcements, but Houston didn't have enough men to send.

Sam Houston and William Travis really were Masons.

Oh, and a Venti chocolate chip thingy drink really does have 670 calories. I find that to be the most shocking revelation in this chapter. Lol.

Hope you liked this chapter! Because I actually had fun writing this.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

After receiving a _royal dressing down _from Mr. Fletcher, his words not theirs, everyone piles onto the bus to head to a place where they could go have dinner. Luckily for Jade and Tori, the seniors' escapades: sneaking off to go shopping for outrageous western wear, parading around inside the Alamo in said western wear, being bodily removed from said establishment by the security personnel, and then, disappearing until dinner, help make their little Skybucks visit seem like kindergarten stuff.

Lane announces to the group that they are all going to Casa Rio, one of the oldest restaurants on the Riverwalk. It, according to him, serves excellent Mexican food.

"Oh, I hope they have burrito," Cat comments in her usual happy self.

Robbie wraps one arm around Cat's shoulder, making a suave move, if he says so himself. "I'm sure there's a burrito, Cat," he says in what he thinks is a seductive voice.

Jade groans beside Tori, who is having a hard time hiding her laughter, in the bus when she heard Robbie. Having them actually sit together, Tori and Jade, voluntarily, is a shock for everyone. Sikowitz though, just gave them a knowing smile in which they just it shrug off. Beck, on the other hand, is actually seething in his seat next to Andre.

Andre, being a good friend that he is, asks what's wrong.

"Nothing man," Beck whispers harshly, but he didn't mean to say it out in that tone.

Andre frowns. "You know, if it's nothing, you wouldn't be fuming in your seat." Then Andre moves his gaze to where Tori and Jade is seating, holding hands. "It's Jade, isn't it?"

Beck looks at him and nods his head angrily. "I think she's cheating on me."

"With?" Andre furrows his eyebrows. He knows Jade; she wouldn't do anything like that even if she may look like that kind of girl. But he can see the way Tori is holding Jade's hand…

"Tori," Beck huffs and cross his arms.

"I don't think Tori will do that, Beck. And I can't even imagine Jade cheating. You know that she can't do that to you. She's not the cheating type. She hates cheaters so she can't be one herself."

Beck tries to digest what his friend said. He can't seem to believe his words when he saw Jade genuinely smiling at whatever Tori is saying. She seems so happy. _But she hates being happy, _Beck thinks.

"Just look at them, Andre," Beck says. "They are so close all of the sudden. I can't help but be suspicious."

Andre looks at them again. _They do look all couple-y and stuff. _He shrugs his shoulders. _But Tori and Jade can't do that. I'm sure there's a reason behind this._

… … …

When the bus drops them off, Beck pulls Jade away from Tori with a stern look. Before going with Beck, Jade asks Tori if she'll be okay. Tori nods and let goes of her hand. This gesture made Beck even more livid.

"What the hell is wrong with you Jade?" Beck asks after he got him and Jade a private place to talk.

"What do you mean, Beck?" Jade responds like she doesn't know what's happening. _That's because I really don't understand why Beck is acting this way._

"Don't – don't you ask like you don't know what's happening!" Beck shouts earning a few head to look their way.

"Look Beck I really don't –"

Beck, tired of running around the bush, bluntly asks, "Are you cheating on me with Tori?"

Jade is surprise with how blunt he is. "What? Cheating? WHAT THE HELL!?" Now, she's furious alright.

"Yeah," Beck says confidently. He knows he's right after all. "You and she are holding hands and shit. You two act like a fucking couple. And what do you do to me when I ask for closure? You brush me off like I'm a stupid puppy!"

Jade can only see red. Nobody can accuse something like that to her, _especially_, her own boyfriend. "It's just a friendly gesture!"

"Friendly gesture? You call that friendly? Who the fuck are you kidding? You run off with her and where do I find you? In a hotel room, holding her hand and alone! Explain to me why you need to touch and be close to her all of the sudden."

"Beck, Tori…" She stops herself before she can say anything. _It's not my secret to tell. I can't do this to her. I can't break her trust. _"You just have to trust me, Beck."

"You can't even explain. Wow, Jade. Wow."

"I can explain."

"Then enlighten me, Jade."

"Tori – Tori needs me right now, as a friend. I can't let her down on this. And she has something that will help me too. Beck you have to understand - "

"That's stupid, Jade. You and Tori are not even friends! If you keep doing this I can't trust - "

"Stop cutting me off!" Jade glares at him. That made him shut his mouth. "If you can't trust me then maybe we should end whatever this is!" She says this with will. "You're accusing me of something you clearly don't know if it's true. Hell, we've been together for two fucking years yet you accuse me of cheating? Huh, I thought you would have trust me! You should know by now that I'm not a fucking cheater!"

"You're not breaking-up with me," Beck stares at her. "And how can I trust you with what I see you do to me every day?" He just wants things to be clear not to have them break-up.

Jade looks to the ground and sighs to calm herself. "Maybe this is what we need. We've been fighting for weeks now and – and I can't be in a relationship with a person who can't trust me."

"And what will you do? Go run to your little Tori?"

"Leave her out of this, Beckett. She didn't do anything. You ruined us." With that she turns around and begins walking away.

"You can't walk away from me, Jade," Beck calls after her.

She didn't turn around, she continue walking. "Watch me, Oliver."

And with that, Beck couldn't believe what he did. He actually didn't understand. But what surprised him the most is when Jade didn't look heartbroken at all. _That's because she may have been planning this all along. _Beck huffs and kicks a rock out of frustration. _I just know that she's hiding things. Fuck, I can't believe I saw this coming. _

He didn't dare go eat with the rest of the gang for dinner. He decided to walk back to the hotel instead.

… … … …

Jade saw Tori at the Casa Rio's entrance, waiting for her.

"Hey," says Tori full of concern. She grabs Jade's hand and caresses it with her thumb. This act is not because she doesn't want to see the baddies. She knows Jade needs the comfort right now having witness the whole break up scene from afar.

She slyly smile, "Have you seen some ghost while I'm gone?"

Tori shrugs. "Just a man down the road laughing. He's all covered up in blood, but he didn't bother me."

"That's good," Jade sighs.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tori asks softly as she looks at her companion's green eyes. She could see anger and hurt reflecting in them.

"No, I'm fine," Jade replies plastered a fake smile. Tori looks at her worriedly. "Come on, let's go get some dinner. I bet the gang is waiting for us."

Jade tugs their intertwined hands and enters the restaurant. People inside are quietly chatting as they eat their meal. Quickly scanning the room, she sees her friends at one table. Tori and Jade proceed to them and sit down on the chair left for them, interrupting Cat's storytelling about her brother.

"Hey! Where's Beck?" Andre asks.

"Uh…" Tori eyes Jade if she's going to answer. When she realizes that Jade will not answer, she says "I saw him walk to the other direction. Um… I don't think he'll eat dinner with us…"

"Oh," Cat mutters sadly. "I thought he will like to know how my brother jumps off the window when he was done using my study desk as a tarpaulin."

Tori gives Andre a questioning glance in which he return with a shrug. A little while later, a waitress starts to serve their food. They all begin to eat having little conversation here and there. Everyone had a lot of fun that night, even with Beck's absence. If anything actually, Cat, Robbie, Andre and Tori are all prepared for this day having seen Jade and Beck's relationship crumbling down ever since the day they arrived at the Texas' airport.

One hour and thirty-six minutes later, the table is cleared and Jade and Tori have finally finished their after dinner coffee.

"So, what now?" Jade looks at Tori expectantly. She's actually surprised at how much she enjoyed the evening minus the break-up. Tori is actually fun to be around with if only Jade accept the fact the she's beginning to think of Tori as a friend. Tonight she just really wanted to stay close to Jade. In a compromise of sorts, since they both needed their hands to eat, Tori has wrapped her bare leg around Jade's shorts clad leg. They need skin to skin contact, according to Tori. _Plus it's kinda nice, being so close to her, _Jade thinks to herself.

"I have an idea," Robbie suggests with a waggle of his brow. "Let's go back to the hotel and play strip poker!" He hasn't missed the footsie play under the table and he is still not done with his seductive act with Cat (which is not working by the way).

Tori gives him a disgusted look as Jade glares draggers at him.

"Eww Robbie," Cat giggles. "You are so gross."

Jade is just going to make a snarky remark when Trina sits on the empty chair next to her. It was meant for Beck, but whatever.

"What's up, kids?" She asks. "I heard you were asking of some fun things to do. Why doesn't each one of you give me a compliment? It'll be fun!"

"I'll rather watch you bleed after I poke you with my favorite scissors," Jade grumbles under her breath.

Tori rolls her eyes and looks at Jade, meaningfully. "How about… we go back to the Alamo… and look around."

"Really?" Jade asks with excitement. "Are you sure about this, Vega?"

Tori smiles at her and looks around her friends and sister who are giving her curious looks. In answer, Tori offers her hand to Jade and the raven-haired beauty took it with a smile of gratitude.

… … … …

**A/N: **I took loooong to update this chapter and I'm sorry for that. Yesterday, I can't seem to sign-in in my ff account and it sucks. Anyway, the major point of this chapter is the Bade break-up. I know it's quite unfair to Beck since Jade do seems to be cheating if you understand his POV. But Jade had enough of him already. If you look back to the past chapter (I'm not sure if it's in chapter 3) you can see that they're already arguing. Psh. Beck and Jade always argue with the little things. That's super unhealthy, right? So I guess, this is for the best, Jade. This is for the best.

PS. Did not proof read this because I am lazy. HEHE


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

"Ummm, Tori? What, exactly, is going on here?" Andre finally asks.

They've been tromping around the old mission for about ten minutes and everyone is getting bored, except for Tori and Jade.

"I guess we need to explain some things..." Tori leads them over to a bench near a crop of cactus flowers.

"Wow..." Rex says, breaking the silence. "That's heavy, but it actually explains a lot about Jade's odd behavior lately. Hehe."

"Odd behavior?" Jade groans behind Tori just as Robbie makes Rex shut up.

"I told you not to bring him along!" Tori says as she glares to Robbie.

"I'm sorry!" the boy squeaks. Tori sighs and walk toward Jade knowing that it's stupid for her to ask Robbie to leave Rex behind.

"Yeah, I think she's been just as weird as she's always been. ... Ouch... Dang it, Rob. Why did you hit me?" Rex stupidly asks his owner. _Damn puppet, _Tori thought. _Why didn't I let him die when I was given a chance? Oh! Darn it, Tori, why are you thinking like Jade? That's so mean._

With a bored expression on his face, Andre breaks Tori's train of thoughts, "I'm not even going to be weirded about that. But I will say this. I thought that story about your ancestor sounded a little sketchy. We found it in the museum this afternoon."

"We also found some stuff about Beck's great grandma," Robbie adds. "Seems she had the same name but different gender, Beckette Oliver."

_"Stay away from her!"_

Tori spins around, away from her friends, to find Johnny West standing before her.

"You came!" she exclaims with a smile.

"Who?" Trina gives her sister a weird look. "I don't see – "

"Shhh!" hisses Jade. "Let her talk to him. It's him, right Tori?"

"Yeah, it's him."

_"Who's that?"_ Johnny asks, suspiciously, indicating Jade.

"This is Jade West. She's a descendant of yours."

Johnny slowly walks around Jade, studying her.

Slowly, he says, "I had a son, Billy. It's good to know he lived to be a man."

"Billy?" Tori echoes for Jade's benefit. "He says his son's name was Billy."

"Yeah, that's right. William West. He married Sarah Winfield in 1860 and then, he died at the battle of Shiloh during the Civil War."

_"Civil War? My God, we go to all this trouble to become an independent country only to start a war between ourselves. That's insane,"_ Johnny moans.

"So..." Robbie whispers slowly to Andre, Trina and Cat, who are currently standing well away from Tori and Jade, "Is she, like, actually, talking to a dead guy?"

"Well, Jade seems to think so," Andre observes.

"This is cracked, man," Rex adds.

"Tell him we want to help," Jade urges.

" He can hear you. Just talk to him," Tori says as she walks closer to where Johnny is standing.

"Okay...okay. We want to clear your name," Jade starts calmly, but quickly becomes more fevered in her speech. "For over two hundred years, our family has lived with the shame that you betrayed..."

_"Like hell! I didn't betray nobody. Hell, fire and damnation! Haven't I suffered enough? I've been hauntin' this God forsaken hunk of stone for..."_

"... and I've read all the family journals including your own so I don't be..."

"Will the two of you just shut it! God! I can't hear when both of you are shouting at me at the same time."

"You guys want to go get a Frappacino or something?" Trina suggests, "'Cause they don't seem to care if we're here or not."

"Umm, sure," Andre says, "but could you just bring me one back? I don't want to miss anything. Oh, and make sure you ask for non-fat milk in mine. You wouldn't believe the calories in those things."

"Come with me Cat?" Trina asks.

"Kay kay."

Cat and Trina leave with the drink orders and Andre settles down to watch the show which is already in the second act. Robbie sat next to him. Jade and Tori are getting to the heart of the matter.

"... so I figured that your body must be buried near here or you wouldn't still be here, right?" Tori asks Johnny.

_"Yep."_

"He said, yep. And if we could find your body..."

_"That would prove I didn't run off."_

To Johnny, "Exactly." To Jade, "He gets it." Tori wiggles her eyebrows at Jade to show her enthusiasm. Jade chuckles and rolls her eyes.

"So where are you? I mean where is your body buried?" Jade asks, facing around five feet to Tori's left.

_"It's right over there,"_ Johnny points towards the archway to the right of the front entrance to the church, then he runs over towards it.

Tori follows and calls back over her shoulder, "It's over here ... at the archway."

Andre and Jade follow her.

_"There was a short fence that ran along here and I saw her when I came around the corner,"_ Johnny explains as he walks through the motions that lead to his death. _"I'd ... um ... noticed her before, but ... well, I'm a married man and ... she was no lady."_

"What's he saying?" Jade finally asks when Tori stops relaying Johnny's information.

"Umm, he's talking about some woman." Then, to Johnny, she asks, "Who was no lady?"

_"Beckette Oliver, that's who. She was_ ..." he pauses and looks bashful, _"Sorry, ma'am. Your ears shouldn't have to hear this, but she was a camp follower."_

"Camp follower?" Tori asks. Johnny blushes as much as a dead man can blush.

"A camp follower is a person who followed military camps in order to sell goods or services that the military doesn't supply. There were many camp followers during the revolutionary and the civil wars." Robbie happily supplies this useful bit of information.

_"Yes'm, that's right. She provided services to the men in the camp, if you understand my meanin'."_

Now, it is Tori's turn to blush. "Well, it is called the oldest profession."

Jade's head is turning back and forth between Tori and where she thinks Johnny is standing. He looks like he's watching a strange, one-person tennis match. "What's happening? Who are you talking about? What profession?"

"Beckette Olover," Tori supplies and then, quickly amends, "But not, your Beck Oliver, a different one."

Jade bristles a little at Tori's choice of words. It reminded her of the break-up that happened earlier. "He's not mine."

"You guys broke-up again?" Andre regrets that he asked such thing because if only looks can kill, he'll be lying on the ground next to Johnny all thanks to Tori and Jade.

_"That's right. She came up to me and ... well, wanted to provide her services to me. Said I should just forget about delivering that letter and come away with her. Said she knew where we could go and be safe. Well, I told her, NO! I'm a married man with a tiny little baby and I weren't interested in her. She told me it was a waste. Yep, that's what she said, 'What a waste'. Then, something hit me from behind and that was it till I came back to myself and realized I was dead. By then, they knew something had happened and Beckette told them she saw me meetin' with one of Santa Anna's men and that I rode off in the opposite direction from Houston. That's when I noticed my hand_," Johnny finishes on a solemn note.

Tori quickly relays this new information and then, asks, "What about your hand?"

Johnny holds up his right hand and shows Tori that his ring finger is missing. She gasps in shock.

"What's wrong?" Jade asks as he touches Tori's arm in concern.

"Oh no, don't touch me. I can't see him."

Jade quickly removes her hand and mutters, dejectedly, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's just ..." Tori reaches back and catches Jade's hands and brings them to her, cupping them together, as if they're praying together. "You're right. We need to help him. This is wrong. The way history has treated this poor man and we need to right that wrong. His finger ... someone cut off his finger, Jade."

"Why would anyone do that?"

_"To get Travis' ring. I don't really know why anyone would want it, but that's what was on that finger."_

"For the Mason ring," Tori explains.

Robbie gasps loudly. All four of the others turn to look at him in concern.

"What's wrong, Rob?" Andre asks.

"I think I know where that ring ended up. We need to get back to the hotel," Robbie says seriously and urgently.

Tori turns back to Johnny. "We'll let you know what we find out."

Trina and Cat are walking down the street with everyone's coffees when Robbie, Andre, Tori and Jade come running by them.

"Bring those with you," Andre shouts, "We'll need them. I think this is going to be a long night."

… … … …

**A/N: **I feel really bad for not updating this for almost 2 weeks. I'm so sorry. But I have school and homework. It sucks to balance everything. And to top all of those shit loads of work, I have major writer's block. So please don't kill me. I tried very hard to write this chapter. I am so sorry it's short. I need to go study for a test tomorrow after this.

So please, tell me what you think about all the chizzle that's happening! I will try to update very soon.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Hi there people! Here's the 9th chapter!

Be ready to find out who has the ring.

**… … … …**

**Chapter 9:**

"And just where do the six of you think you're going?" The loud, authoritative voice booms at the teenagers as they try to creep through the lobby.

"Oh, Mr. Fletcher, your illustriousness." Andre croons at his most obnoxious and with a nervous little laugh adds, "We didn't see you there."

"Well, isn't that curious, Mr. Harris, because I failed to see you in the bus on the way back to the hotel." He crosses his arms in front of him, waiting for an explanation.

"Yeah... about that," Tori starts. "We tried to catch that bus, but it wouldn't stop for us."

"Really?" Mr. Fletcher's voice raises an octave in disbelief.

"Yep, sure did," Jade confirms with fake zest.

"Is this true, Ms. Valentine?" Mr. Fletcher singles out the student whom he feels is the most honest.

"Well..." Cat starts slowly, thinking of what she's going to say. "Uhm… Yeah!"

Mr. Fletcher gives the group a stern look before slowly nodding his head. "Alright."

"Alright?" Robbie asks. "Just like that? You're going to let us off the hook?"

"Robbie shut up!" Trina sneers at him. That makes Robbie whimper and step back.

"Yeah," Mr. Fletcher says. "I'm tired and we still have a heavy day tomorrow. I need my beauty sleep. But I'm giving your little group a warning. If this happen again, you will get an F for the semester even if your movie will be fantastic."

Cat gasps. "That's so unfair!"

"Do you want me to make it fair?" The strict teacher asks sternly.

"What?" Tori asks abruptly. "No, no, no sir. It's okay. We're sorry for not ah… catching the bus. We're sorry. I promise that it won't happen again."

"Good to know," Mr. Fletcher replied. "Now off you go! I don't want to see you loitering around the lobby."

With that, he watches the small group catch the elevator.

… … … …

Once they are safely away from the lobby and following Robbie through the twisting hotel, Jade asks, "Okay, so what's going on? You're being awfully mysterious, Shappiro."

"Patience, Jade."

Just then, Jade realizes they've stopped walking and they've standing in front of Beck and Andre's room, not Robbie's.

"Why are we here?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Andre chimes in.

"Because this is where the ring is," Robbie explains quietly. Tori's eyebrows shoot up at this while Robbie ignores her and quietly knocks on the door. There is no answer.

"Here, let me," Andre offers. He pulls out his keycard and swipes it through the reader. He opens the door and light from the hall streams into the darkened room.

"This is kinda spooky," Cat whispers. "Where's Beck?"

Just then, the six of them hears stomps from inside. Beck comes out of the dark room with a bottle in hand.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" He asks directly to Jade.

"I…" Jade frown as she sees Beck stumbles in his way to Tori.

"And you bitch," he began. "You fucking – you – you were my friend!"

"I don't know what you're talking about Beck," Tori says as she looks at Jade briefly.

"No!" Beck starts. "You and – and J-Jade! How could you, Tor?"

"Look Beck – "

"Beck, please calm down," Jade sighs as she step in front of Tori to shield her from Beck. "Tori is not part of _any _of this. She didn't do anything. Be mad at me. Just – just don't drag her in to this, Beck."

"Oh," Beck mocks. "Now you're so protective of her. That's oh so cute, Jade. So fucking cute."

"Please don't cuss," Cat sobs in the background. Beck's eyes soften when he hear Cat's quiet sobs and Trina's comforting words to stop her crying. He feels bad and apologizes to Cat. But when he faces Jade, his face was stone hard. No emotions can be written.

"Look," Jade begins. "I'm not here to talk to you about this, Beck. I'm here because Robbie needs to show us something."

"Yes, we came here to see the ring," Robbie steps forward. "Beck, where's the ring?"

"Ring? What ring?" Beck's says with anger back in his voice. Then, he grabs Robbie by the arm and pulls him aside. He whispers desperately to the kid. "Robbie, you promised never to tell anyone about that. Even I was not supposed to tell you that! It's a family secret and you promised!" Jade and Tori intently staring at them.

"Robbie? Are you saying that Beck has the ring?" Jade carefully asks.

"Yes, Jade."

"Why do you care anything at all about a family heirloom?" Beck asks in honest confusion.

"Family heirloom?" Jade asks in surprise and rage. "Do you even know what that ring is?"

"Of course I do," he explains. "Okay, my many times great grandmother, the one who was a survivor of the Alamo, received it from her ... um ... fiancé right before he died. He was William Travis, the commander of the Alamo. He...he never even knew she was pregnant." Beck chokes out the final statement with great emotion.

"Dang!" comments Rex. "It didn't even know premarital sex had been invented back then."

The rest of them ignore the puppet.

"So you know where the ring is?" Tori asks excitedly.

"Yeah," Beck slowly reaches under the neck of his shirt and starts pulling a long chain. Out pops a large gold ring.

_The hell. How come I didn't realize that big ring under his fucking shirt, _Jade thinks to herself.

Beck takes the ring off its chain and holds it up for everyone to see. It's a gold ring with the traditional Masonic symbols of a crossed compass and square imprinted on it.

"May I?" Jade slowly implores him and she holds out her hand for the ring.

"Why?"

"It's a long story," Tori adds. She's standing to the right and slightly behind Jade and is lightly touching Jade's arm. This room makes her nervous all of the sudden. It must be the noises in the bedroom.

Beck gives her an unreadable look, but there's definitely nothing friendly there.

"I've got all the time in the world," he finally says.

"Allow me," Andre offers as he sits down on the bed to get comfortable. "It's like this. West Senior was a scout, but not a boy scout, and he was supposed to deliver a letter and that ring", he points to Beck's ring, "to Houston, the man, not the city, 'cause that didn't exist yet. Except, West Senior disappeared, along with the letter and ring and some money. That's what history says, but it's wrong. West Senior told us, well, actually, he told Tori, but that's an even longer story. Anyway, West Senior told Tori that Beckette Senior came onto him and wanted to do the nasty, but West Senior said, "Hell no, woman. I'm married." Which I totally understand 'cause that's exactly what I'd do in that situation." He says and winks showing off that he's a good guy. Neh, he's just trying to make the room lighter.

"Where was I? Oh yeah, well, apparently she doesn't take rejection well and she popped him. Or rather she had someone else kill them and then, somebody... cut off his finger to get that ring." Andre points accusingly at the ring.

Beck looks at the ring he's holding with disgust and promptly drops it, thanks to his drunken state. The ring starts rolling and Jade hits the floor trying to catch it before it rolls under anything. She grabs it just as it's about to go under the bed and snatches it up.

"Let me get this straight," Beck starts, not the least bit upset about dropping a ring which was cut off a dead man's hand. "You think my great great great great great grandmother killed someone."

"Yes!" Cat answers happily. "Now we are on a mission! Right, right?"

"A mission? What mission?" Beck asks.

"We're going to change history," Tori says and gave Jade a look.

… … … …

**A/N: **Robbie, oh Robbie, how'd you know Beck has the ring? You smart person.

Lol. I hope you liked this update! Please, do leave me good reviews. Oh yeah, I understand that some people find this story confusing and all that. Please, you can ask me questions if you don't understand something.

Oh yeah, btw, to all Skipping Ten Years Ahead readers, I'm planning on updating the story when I finish this. I really can't balance 2 stories and school. D: But no worries, I will try really hard to update this story faster so that I can update STYA! :D

3 or 4 chapters left in this story.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Jade pulls the minivan into the alley at the back of the hotel and looks over at Tori. Tori looked back at her with a smile as she closes her cell phone. "He'll call the right people. We just need to do our part." Jade squeezes her knee back in reassurance.

Trina, Robbie, Cat, Andre and Beck come out a side door of the hotel and quickly pile into the back of the van. Tori is holding a map on her lap which she is studying with a flashlight.

"Okay, here's the plan," Tori starts as Jade pulls out of the alley. "The tools are in the back and ..."

"You stole tools?" Beck asks in shock.

"No, Beck. The tools were already in the van when we killed the owner and carjacked this vehicle. His body's in the back too," Jade bites back sarcastically.

Trina speaks up to explain more calmly. "No, Beck. We rented the van at the airport and then found a 24-hour Home Depot where we bought the tools."

"Anyway, as I was saying... We know where the body's buried..."

"Body?" Beck squeaks.

"Johnny West, remember he's been dead for over 150 years. Anyway, when we find his body we'll be able to prove he was an innocent victim and not a traitor."

They arrive at the Alamo and quickly unload the picks and shovels from the van.

"You know, I think this is really exciting," Andre comments to Robbie as they drag the heavy equipment over toward the mission.

"I know right," Robbie answers as they walked.

"Oh, hell," groans Tori. She's struggling to lift the heavy pick off the ground. "Am I losing it or are they humming the theme from Mission Impossible?"

… … … …

With an unlady-like swipe of the back of her hand under her dripping nose, Tori drops the heavy tool to the ground. "Okay...", she wheezes with her hands braced tightly on her knees, "this is the spot. Y-you guys start swinging. I'm taking a break." She walks over to a low stone wall and slumps to the ground.

"All you did was carry one pick a couple of yards. I'd hardly think that would wear you out", Her sister points out.

"Hey, this medium stuff is tiring, you know."

"_It kin be very drainin' on the living to converse with the dead,_" comments Johnny. He's sitting casually on the wall next to Tori.

"Jesus! Johnny, don't sneak up on a girl like that. Are you trying to send me to an early grave?" Tori flushes when she realizes what she said. "Oh, I'm sorry. That was insensitive of me."

"_It's alright, ma'am. Don't fret yerself_", he points to Robbie who has just started swinging the pick. "_They're off a little. I'm over to the left about three feet."_

"Hey, Rob. Johnny says you're digging in the wrong spot. Move over that way about three feet," Tori points to her left. Then, she turns back to Johnny. "It won't be much longer and don't worry, we'll tell the world they were wrong about you. I promise."

Beck is standing next to Cat who is watching intently for any sign that their mission might be discovered. Waving a lazy hand in Tori's direction, Beck asks, "Do you _really_ believe she's talking to a dead person?"

"Yes Beck. Tori has super powers," happily says Cat.

"_Beck? Is that your Beck Oliver?_" Johnny asks Tori. He's glaring intently at Beck.

"Oh no, he's not _mine_, but yes, that's Beck."

"_He looks nothing like the one I knew. He looks nice and manly. The Beckette I knew looked ... well, like what she was, if you understand my meanin'._"

"I think so ... kinda skanky?"

"_Skanky? I don't know that word._"

"Ummm, let's see... skanky ... it means ..."

"Skanky, one who is disgustingly foul or filthy and often considered sexually promiscuous. Used especially when referring to a woman or girl," Beck provides helpfully.

Johnny looks over at him, surprised that he has inserted himself into the conversation. "_Oh. Well then, yeah, skanky is the right word._"

Tori looks over at Beck also, in equal surprise. "Um, thanks", she says awkwardly.

"No problem. What are we talking about, anyway?"

"Nothing important, really. You know, just ghosty stuff."

Beck turns away from Tori in disgust. He stomps over to the edge of the building and stands there frowning, feeling like he's being cut out of everything.

Fifteen minutes later, Jade's digging in a pit about three feet deep when her shovel hits something solid. "Hey, guys! I think I've found something", she shouts enthusiastically.

Everyone rushes over to the site to take a look.

"Oh my God", gasps Cat when Jade brushes away some of the dirt, "it's a skeleton."

"And look!" Andre uses his flashlight to point at one of the skeleton's fingers. "He's missing his ring finger on his right hand."

"_That's me, a'right_", comments Johnny. He's standing behind Tori and peering into the hole too.

"You okay with this?" Tori asks sympathetically.

"_I'm fine with it. 'Specially if it clears my name._"

"He's holding something", Robbie points out with her flashlight. "It looks like a saddle bag. Can you get it out?"

"Not without breaking his arms off."

"Ewwww", Trina and Cat say simultaneously.

"I ain't touchin' that", Robbie says.

"_Just do it, please_", pleads Johnny. "_That's the proof you need._"

"Johnny wants us to do it. He says the proof's in that bag."

Andre takes a deep breath and announces, "I'll do it." He bends down over the skeleton, grabs the saddle bag ... and pulls.

Trina covers her mouth with her hand. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Jade wrinkles her nose. "That's sick and not the good kind of sick."

Beck is looking over her shoulder. "I concur."

Tori looks a little ill. "That is just nasty."

Beck looks straight at Andre in horror. "I can't believe you did that, Andre. You desecrated that grave."

Andre steps out of the grave with the saddlebag; however, Johnny's skeletal hands are still hanging on. When Andre pulls on the bag the arms break off and the bony fingers stay attached.

Tori is first to defend Troy. "Johnny told him to do it, Beck."

"So you say", Beck scoffs.

However, Jade isn't the one to jump in between the two this time. This time it's the San Antonio Police Department. Suddenly, bright lights are flashing in their eyes, blinding them.

"This is the police", a deep, masculine voice booms through the night air. "Everyone lock your hands together on top of your heads."

Andre looks down at the saddlebag and frowns. He doesn't want to put it down; after all, they're so close. Instead he raises the bag high above his head.

"Holy shit! That kid's got a skeleton in his hands", one of the officers announces. There must be at least five officers quickly making their way towards the group.

"Must be one of those cults I heard about on 20/20", answers another.

"Damn it! It's not fair", Jade moans, "We were so close."

A policeman grabs one arm and then another and quickly places Jade's hands in handcuffs. Other officers are similarly arresting her friends. She tries to escape but it was no use.

"I have to advise you, young lady, that you have the right to remain silence, if you..."

… … … …

**A/N: **I feel bad for neglecting this story. But I'm back. We're almost done anyway, we're so near the end already. I don't think I can update fast though. I still have my end-of-term project. So I won't be writing much. But I promise to update and I will continue this.


End file.
